Rosalee Waller Moore

She is survived by her loving and devoted granddaughter Elizabeth Anne Blackman and son-in-law Ron Blackman; her nieces Cheryl Johnston, Karen Fedor, Dianne Hardin, Deborah Wagner, Ellen Staley, Judy Shiple, Katie Fonte, and Cecilia Barnett; her nephews Ken Hardin, Walter Barnett, Ben Waller Jr., Brad Waller, and David Waller; and her first cousin Annabeal Lefler, along with many great-nieces and great-nephews. She was also fortunate to have loved and been loved by individuals whom she considered family and who brought her great joy and comfort. She is preceded in death by her beloved children Lynda Blackman, Marilyn Moore, and Richard Moore, her sister Carolyn Hardin Heagey, and her brothers Harry Waller Jr., Benjamin Waller III, and Capt. Marvin Barnett.

Rosalee was born on March 15, 1934 in Deland, FL, to her wonderful parents Rev. Harry Huchingson Waller and Mildred Smith Waller. She attended Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, and Emory University School of Nursing in Atlanta, Georgia. She married Robert L. Moore in 1955 and moved to Fisher Island once Bob started his medical practice, which led to many exciting adventures and the building of one-of-a-kind memories. Rosalee felt a special calling to mission work, as well as to teaching. With a golden heart, she helped young people, boosting and molding their lives, for nearly all her adult life. In the early 1960’s, she became one of the first instructors to help integrate Blake High School in Tampa, and she thrived when working with high-schoolers and in adult-education programs with students from diverse backgrounds. She once spearheaded a thrilling trip to the Florida Keys with her students, which she chronicled, with pleasure and humor, in her manuscript entitled, ‘Almost Key West.’

In 1988, Rosalee spent a year in China, teaching English and ministering to her students at the China Medical University in Yi Da. She was able to keep up with her students over the years and still communicated with and prayed for them until the end of her life.

Besides teaching, Rosalee shared a familial passion for paleontology, often accompanying her brother Ben on fossil hunts and showing excitement and interest in every new arrowhead and fossil uncovered. She was an avid member of the Tampa Fossil Club and bestowed a similar passion in her children and grandchildren. In her last years, she wrote yet a second manuscript, entitled “Ben Waller: A Tribute,” a nonfiction account of her life and those of her beloved brother and family members. Just months before her passing, Rosalee was fortunate to have been interviewed for a Florida documentary film regarding the Titanis Walleri, a prehistoric bird discovered by and named for her brother Ben. The family is grateful that her interview was included in and gives beautiful texture to the documentary.

During the course of her life, Rosalee lived at more than thirty residences, each new location becoming a place of joy and unconditional welcome for family and strangers alike. She was a born hostess, always desiring to have loved ones over and always with plenty of food and entertainment available. Her friends and family knew her as a kind, humble, and generous woman, soft-spoken but enormously witty, always looking for her next adventure.

Growing up in a musical family, Rosalee also shared a deep love of music -- particularly sacred music -- and her sonorous alto voice, joining in harmony, was always a treat for the listener.

Rosalee loved the Lord and spent the course of her life as a shining example of what it means to be a God-fearing, Christian woman. She led a Bible study when she resided at Hudson Manor on Davis Islands and would often donate what money she had to Christian ministries across the globe.

Toward the end of her life, Rosalee received loving care from the doctors, nurses, and staff at Woodbridge Care Center in Town & Country. The family would like to thank not only Woodbridge for its dedication and support but also the many dear friends and family members who called, visited, and otherwise sustained Rosalee in her final months, when she was no longer able to travel easily.

A gathering to celebrate the beautiful life and legacy of Rosalee Waller Moore will be scheduled in the near future, to which her many loved ones (family members and friends) will all be welcome to attend. She will be sorely missed but her spirit of love and devotion will remain in our hearts forever.