Rosemarie Anne Scanlan

1937 - 2015

Scanlan, Rosemarie Anne EL CAJON -- Rosemarie Anne Scanlan died peacefully of natural causes on Friday, April 17, 2015, at home in El Cajon, California, with her husband by her side. Rosemarie was born July 8, 1937 in New York City, the second child of August and Emily Hajek of Queens, NY, where Rosemarie grew up and lived until she married. While vacationing in California in 1957 she met her husband, Tom Scanlan, in La Jolla, California. They married the following summer, August 23, 1958, in Queens, NY. While Tom completed his studies at SDSU, Rosemarie worked at General Dynamics Astronautics as Executive Secretary to VP of Atlas Weapons Systems. Their first child Karen was born in 1964, just months before they moved from North Clairemont to a new home near Grossmont College, where Tom had accepted a teaching position. Their second daughter, Alison, was born in 1967, shortly before they moved to Rosemarie's final home in Fletcher Hills. She was a wonderful mother and a dedicated parent, working as a volunteer in their library and classrooms and later at their high school as a 'band mother'. Her family shared a cabin in Laguna Mountains with three other faculty families with whom they socialized for many years over gourmet dinners they each prepared on a rotating basis. She loved reading and listening to music and regularly attended concerts and plays. She also enjoyed traveling, visited most states, Mexico, Central America, Hawaii and parts of Europe, which included visits to her father's birthplace in the Czech Republic and to Tom's grandfather's birthplace in Ireland. Her favorite trips were visits with her daughters' families. Rosemarie was afflicted with multiple sclerosis for the last 30 years, which eventually limited her mobility. Still, she continued to travel, celebrating her 45th marriage anniversary with a cruise to Alaska and her 50th anniversary at her favorite resort in Maui. Rosemarie is survived by her husband Tom, by her two daughters, Karen Frazier in NY and Alison Thorne in California, and four grandchildren, Shelby and Thomas Frazier and Alex and Charlotte Thorne. She was predeceased by her mother Emily Skokan Hajek in 1979, her father August Hajek in 1984, and her brother, John Hajek, in 2005. A memorial will take place in New York in July. Her ashes will be inurned at Arlington National Cemetery. "Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality." ~ Emily Dickinson