Rosemarie Lowrey

Rosemarie (Spatola) Lowrey was born in New York City, the daughter of the late Marie and Giuseppe Spatola. She was raised in Brooklyn, surrounded by a large extended family and educated in the Brooklyn Public Schools. As a child, she loved dance. Following graduation from New Utrecht High School, she attended Brooklyn College, graduating from there with honors and became a New York City Public School teacher. Later, she obtained a Master of Library Science degree from Columbia University and became a district supervisor of high school libraries in Brooklyn. When this position was abolished, she taught at Lafayette High School where she met her future husband, Thomas Lowrey. They were married in 1967 and relocated to Staten Island in 1973 where she became a librarian at Tottenville High School. In 1985, she and Tom fulfilled a lifelong dream and moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Her happiness was marred by Tom’s untimely death in 1993. While in Florida, she worked as a librarian at Palm Beach State College, a position she enjoyed until mid-2015.

She loved working with the students and her colleagues at the school. In later years, she enjoyed several trips to Italy.

Rosemarie was a kind and generous person to all her family and friends and enjoyed socializing with them.

She is survived by her son Matthew, a brother Dr. Salvatore (Frances) of Staten Island, NY; two nieces, Mary Frances Sabo (Josh) and Ellen Letta (Chris), several great nieces and nephews and many devoted and lifelong friends. The family would like to extend a special thanks to Camille Mongiello for her devotion and compassionate care and friendship, especially in the last few years.