Rosemary Ames Jablonowski

Rosemary Ames Jablonowski, known by many as “Grandmother”, joined the angels on Saturday, the 11th of February 2023, somewhat unexpectedly. The family rests easy knowing she had tremendous joy in her life and is now, in her words, keeping busy rocking newborns and eating lobster on her breaks.

Rosemary was born on the 20th of December 1936 to the late Charles Everett Ames and Marian Nester Ames, who instilled in her the importance of family, faith, education, and philanthropy. Importantly, they also nurtured her gift of being a caretaker, as she cared for her kid brother, Charles Nester Ames, and was by his side until the day that he died.

Rosemary, a native Houstonian and Texan through and through, attended Lamar High School and Baylor University, but relished her time spent living abroad in Switzerland and Brazil as well as California and New York. She loved to travel—especially fond of her trips to Destin with her family and across the globe with Elderhostel.

Her worldly views equipped her to be a better teacher, something she tried to apply in and out of the classroom. She was addicted, as she called it, to reading and a movie theatre buff (sometimes even hopping between two movies for the price of one). Rosemary had a love affair with food, with a belief system in Sunday brunch and a stronger adage that no meal could be finished without dessert. To balance this, she ran, and won, races into her seventies, something she was particularly proud of.

But above all else, she cherished her family of which she was the backbone. Her fondest memories, almost all of them, involved her 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild. Her only regret would be that there weren’t more babies. Her intelligence, wit, strength, and counsel will be fiercely missed. To know Rosemary, or “Grandmother”, was to love her and the world will be much quieter, quite literally, without her in it.

She is preceded in death by her parents Charles Everett and Marian Nester Ames, special brother Charles Nester Ames, and beloved son, Donald Robert Jablonowski, Jr.

She is survived by her children Suzanne J. Shivitz and husband, Mickey Shivitz, Elizabeth J. Styers, John Styers, and Diane Jablonowski; and leaves behind her legacy in her grandchildren, the self-proclaimed greatest joys of her life: John David and Brittany Elizabeth Styers (great-grandchild River Grayson); Merritt Ames, Reagan Marie, and Riley Anne Shivitz; Westin Robert and Kendall Ames Jablonowski; and Jeremy Copley-Wood and his family. She is also outlived by her closest friend for nearly 80 years, Jeanne Layne.

A celebration of Rosemary’s life is to be held at one o’clock in the afternoon on Friday, the 17th of February, in the chapel at Grace Presbyterian Church, 10221 Ella Lee Lane in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be announced during the service.

Prior to the service, the family will have gathered for a private interment at Glenwood Cemetery.

Consistent with her serving spirit, if you wish to make a contribution in her honor, please direct those to the Alzheimer’s Association, 6055 S. Loop E, Houston, TX 77087 or the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), 55 E Jackson Blvd, Suite 490, Chicago, IL 60604 or by visiting dbsalliance.org.