Monaghan, Rosemary (Trombly). Beloved by family and friends, Rosemary passed away on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. The youngest of four children, Rosemary was born at home on Wayburn Avenue in Grosse Pointe Park to Arthur and Mary (Mae) Trombly. During the 1930s, Rosemary spent summers during the Great Depression with her cousins in Anchorville in a home owned by her grandparents. She long said that this experience gave her a life-long appreciation of family and frugality as they had to live communally and with little in the way of extra amenities. These values followed her throughout her life.
A lifelong Catholic, Rosemary graduated from St. Ambrose Catholic High School in 1943. During World War II, she worked as an executive secretary at Service Steel in Detroit. She originally knew her husband, John Monaghan, as the brother of her best friend, Ann Monaghan. She married John in 1949 after his service in World War II, raising their family in St. Clair Shores and then Grosse Pointe Woods. She resided on Roslyn Rd. since 1963. Rosemary loved wooden speed boats, anything related to Michigan history and travel (especially Mackinac Island), and the outdoors. She was a lifelong bird watcher and enjoyed visiting new restaurants in Detroit with her cousin Suzanne Garland. She was grateful to have lived long enough to see the city’s renaissance. Rosemary always enjoyed a good party, with Manhattans (commonly known as “The Recipe”) her drink of choice.
Rosemary is loved and missed by her four children: Marilyn Monaghan, Rosemary Monaghan (Edwin Garrett), Maureen Wilbat (Bruce), and John Jr. (Madeleine Barkey). She is survived by six grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, and close family friends Alan Gebauer and Donna Labelle. She will also be remembered by countless cousins, nieces and nephews over several generations, plus devoted neighbors the Bickmanns and the Pombers.
Visitation for Rosemary will be on Tuesday, September 21st, from 2-9 PM with a Rosary service at 7 PM at A.H. Peters Funeral Home, 20705 Mack Ave, Grosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236. Family will receive guests at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, September 22nd, until the time of the funeral Mass at 10 AM at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 21620 Greater Mack Ave, St. Clair Shores, MI 48080. A private interment will take place at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Anchorville, MI.
We will always honor her neverending spirit:
“And if you should survive to 105
Think of all you’ll derive
Out of being alive
And here is the best part
You’ve had a head start
If you are among the very young at heart.”
In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to the Solanus Casey Center and the Belle Isle Conservancy.
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