Proud to be an American, my mom always said with great pride, “My parents were born here!” That somehow made her feel a part of the country she loved that was different than those she grew up with in the Lower Manhattan Italian Ghettos where she was born and raised. Born to “Carrie” Borzone and Pasquale Epifanio she was a proud second generation Italian. Rosemarie’s grandparents emigrated here in the 1880’s from Genoa, Italy.
Born on Sullivan Street, she attended St. Anthony’s of Pauda Parish. During her third year of Elementary School, the family moved 6 blocks east to Mott Street. Rosie met and married her husband; John Barone USMC at St Patrick’s Old Cathedral after WWII and moved back to Sullivan Street. Together they raised two children, Vivian and Roger and were the proud parents of 5 grandchildren, Christiana, Jonathon, Sarah Rose, Leah Mai and Anthony.
Life was celebrated every day with love, food and family. Rosemarie spent summers in Greenwood Lake, NY with her children and family. Outdoors, water sports, gardening, hiking, picnic lunches lakeside, campfires were the perfect balance to city life in Greenwich Village the rest of the year.
An avid gardener and an amazing cook made life shared with Rosemarie a delight of the senses. Rosemarie was our “Mrs. Clause” who made every Christmas a day to remember complete with her delicious Crispells. Easter was a close second enjoying spring bursting into bloom and her traditional Easter Pies.
After living on Sullivan Street for most of her 65 years of marriage, she finally moved into her “Shangri-La” a Carriage house in Shore Acres here on Staten Island in 2010. There she imagined and cultivated her most prized garden which filled her days year after year from late March until frost each year.
Rosemarie will be dearly missed for her boundless love, generosity, quirky sense of humor and delightful smile.
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