Rosemary A. Stark

Rosemary (Dorian) Cunning Stark was born on Happy Hill in Okanogan County in Washington State on October 15, 1924 to Edgar and Effie (Welling) Dorian in the home her grandfather Eli James Dorian had built on his homestead for her grandmother Minerva Jane (Chambers) Dorian. Rosemary’s grandparents were some of the first settlers in Okanogan County. Her great grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Chambers came over the Oregon Trail to Washington Territory with his parents. Chambers Prairie is named for her great-great grandparents. Her great grandmother was America McAllister (McAllister Springs is named for America’s parents). She rejoined her Happy Hill family and her sons Paul and Jim on December 21, 2011 dying quietly at Mother Joseph’s Care Center where she had resided since 2006.

Rosemary’s mother passed away when she was very young. She grew up on Happy Hill with her 3 brothers (Clif, Tom and Joe) and her sister (Lue). They were all raised by their grandparents who farmed the property. Since this was during the depression, her Dad was working on various construction jobs (including the Grand Coulee Dam) to provide money for the family. Her Uncle Jerry, who had been paralyzed as a young man, also lived with them. Jerry had learned to crawl in order to be mobile and had built hand controls for his car so he could work as a mechanic. When Rosemary became disabled by her stroke, she drew inspiration from his determination.

During World War II, Rosemary lived in Olympia and worked as a riveter at the Boeing airplane plant building planes—she was a true “Rosie the Riveter.” While in Olympia, she took flying lessons, but never got enough air time to get her pilot’s license.

On May 19, 1946, she married Ray A. Cunning and they had eight children, Loris (Russ Gies); Gerald (Marylu); Judi (Bill Kennedy); Paul (Joyce); Jim (Cindy); Carole (Dan Rees); Bill (Allison) and Dan (Kim). Jim and Paul both await her in heaven. She leaves behind 21 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Ray and Rosemary lived in Wenatchee and Okanogan until 1951 when they moved to the Olympia area. They owned and operated the Summit Lake Grocery for a couple of years before settling in East Olympia in about 1954. Ray and Rosemary were 4-H leaders for the Lucky Clover 4-H club. Rosemary was a Roman Catholic and enjoyed attending church with her family from her earliest years.

Ray and Rosemary operated an upholstery shop (she did the sewing) and she also had a ceramic shop located on their property in East Olympia. After Ray died in 1970, Rosemary married Howard Stark, who lived a few blocks away in East Olympia. They operated Stark’s Upholstery until Howard passed away in 1990 and then Rosemary had a stroke in 1994. After her stroke rehab, Rosemary lived alone until 2006 when she moved to Mother Joseph’s.

Rosemary spent quite a bit of time doing genealogy research and was able to locate her second cousins who where still living on the family property on Prince Edward Island, Canada where her grandfather had been born and raised. In 1999, Rosemary was able to visit with her cousins on PEI for two weeks; the trip was one of the highlights of her life. She also was able to go to Alaska and spend two weeks with her four youngest boys when they were there working on the pipeline.

Rosemary enjoyed playing pinochle, doing art projects and for many years had an impressive garden. After her stroke in 1993, her children built raised garden beds from which she continued to raise an abundance of vegetables and flowers which she enjoyed sharing with family, friends and neighbors—she did all the gardening from her wheelchair.

Rosemary also has a very nice singing voice and sang many old folk and cowboy songs for her children and family as well as popular songs from the 30’s and 40’s. She enjoyed telling family stories about growing up on Happy Hill and the adventures of her grandparents. Her home was filled with music as she loved to play records.

Christmas was always a special time for Rosemary, who wanted to be sure her family had a “good” holiday. She would save up supplies all year to make her famous “Chex mix” which had a tad too much garlic for most of us but she was never sure it had enough! Nothing made her happier than the annual Christmas Eve gathering in her tiny house overflowing with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved sitting quietly in her wheelchair and listening to the voices of her family laughing, telling stories and just visiting.

On December 17, 2011, her family gathered at Mother Joseph’s to visit with Rosemary one last time. It was a blessing to us and her to be given that last early Christmas.

Memorial Services will be held Saturday January 7, 2012 at 1:30 at Mills & Mills. A potluck will immediately follow at that location. Rosemary’s ashes will be scattered at Happy Hill in June. Donations in her memory can be made to the Okanogan County Historical Society, PO Box 1129, Okanogan WA 98840.