Rosemary A. Houha

Rosemary A. Houha, born on April 19, 1931, in Oak Park, Illinois, passed away peacefully in her Portland, Oregon home on February 18, 2023, at the age of 91. Her son Tom was at her side. Known by many friends as "Rho," she was a witty and intellectually curious woman who was grateful for a full life spent with a wonderful partner, a large family, and many close friends. "It was a ball!" she'd tell us.

Rosemary grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. As a toddler, the family lore goes, she'd climb up onto the piano bench and figure out the keys and sequences to play popular songs by ear. She became a talented pianist, and in 1949, as a 17-year-old, she received the Paderewski Memorial Gold Medal. She started dating her Oak Park High School classmate and future husband Thomas Houha after charming him and other classmates while playing the piano at a party. The romance that began in high school was enduring and remained at the center of her life.

Following graduation from Rosary College (now known as Dominican University) with a degree in economics, she and Thomas, who graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Architecture, married and began their life together in Oak Park. Thomas joined the firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, internationally known for its modernist glass and steel designs. In 1958 Thomas received a Graham Foundation grant to research architecture in Italy and Switzerland. Rosemary gave birth to twins Tom and Ellen after her husband had to leave for Rome then famously single-handedly scooped up all four children – the newborns and toddlers Jim and Mary – to board one of the first commercial transatlantic jet flights to Rome, joining her husband for the remainder of the year.

In the 1960s Thomas and Rosemary moved their family to Portland, Oregon, where a branch office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill was established. The Chicagoans began a life-long love of the Pacific Northwest, exploring the Cascades, rain forests, the Columbia River Gorge, and the Oregon coast. Rho and Thomas would pack up the VW bus that they brought back from Europe with outdoor gear and kiddos and head out to ski, camp, and hike. That VW bus, and a later model that followed, struggled to get up the hill to their Portland Heights home, and was an unusual enough site at the time to be recognized around town as Rosemary's "micro bus." It was often full of the four kids and a collection of friends - one of whom reminisced that Mrs. Houha had created the precursor to the subsequently iconic family van. As would often be the case, Rosemary was quietly ahead of her time.

In addition to loving the natural environment of the Pacific Northwest, Rosemary and Thomas were deeply involved in the urban environment. Among his architectural projects which included hotels and office towers in Asia as well as Portland, Thomas was a designer of the City's transit mall, which helped position Portland as a US leader in downtown light rail. In the 1970s Rosemary and a group of friends in the Women's Architectural League formed an educational program for Portland Public School groups that focused on exploring and appreciating buildings and public spaces downtown. The tours have continued for 50 years.

Rosemary and Thomas continued a love of music - classical, of course, but they were also Beatles fans, and the family remembers the excitement when new albums such as Revolver and Rubber Soul were brought home. In the seventies, Rosemary and friends formed a chamber music group that met most weeks at the Houha's home because that was where the harpsichord and clavichord that Thomas built for Rosemary were located. They performed at various small events and even transported the harpsichord (and the musicians) to a remote British Columbia setting by seaplane for a retreat. The group met and played for decades, and the friendships among those musicians became an important touchpoint in Rosemary's life.

Among the stories that Rosemary told often were several about how the depression impacted her childhood. Her father's construction business came to a halt, requiring the family to move to a modest one-bedroom apartment in which Rosemary and her older sister Eleanor shared the living room foldout couch. She remained grateful to her older sister for her positive attitude, which Rosemary adopted and carried with her throughout her life. The depression also instilled a lifelong practice of frugality: She hated to spend more than $2.50 on a bottle of wine and saved coupons for groceries. Her favorite necklace was a collection of snap chains that previously held the shower curtain, and she bought used "vintage" clothing before it was trendy to do so. Once again, she was ahead of her time.

Rosemary impressed one of her granddaughter's classes when she came as a "mystery guest," and was introduced as someone who read a book a day. While that reading pace wasn't sustained in her later years, Rosemary was an avid reader, and her condominium's proximity to the Portland Public Library was an important feature. She walked there daily to return and check out new books. She was a part of a book group that became an extension of family. The friendships spanned more than 40 years, and she was honored to be like a mother to many since she was a generation older than most women in the group. The group buttressed Rosemary with support when Thomas died of prostate cancer in 1992. As with many book groups, the readings and also the sustaining friendships were cherished.

One role that Rosemary enjoyed was that of being a 'cool' mother and later grandmother. She helped her youngest children construct and launch large hot air balloons out of tissue paper fueled by fire in coffee cans strung below. The balloons looked like spaceships rising over the neighborhood with kids chasing after them. It was not at all surprising when several of her grandchildren chose to spend portions of their 'gap years' living with Rosemary.

Rosemary and her husband are remembered with love and admiration. As she approached her final months, she often expressed her gratitude for her life with Thomas, family, and friends. She was lucky, she told us over and over again. Her family in turn wishes to convey the enormous gratitude we hold for the life that Rosemary and Thomas created for each other and the people around them. We are very lucky indeed.

Rosemary Houha is survived by her four children Mary Houha Power (Brad), Jim Houha (Becky), Thomas Houha, Ellen Houha (Patty), grandchildren Julia Houha, Elly Power, Ted Power, Octavia McAloon, Rex Houha, Elliott Houha, Meron Power, Adrien Houha, Hana Power, and four great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Thomas Houha, sister Eleanor Anderman, and brother Robert Anderman.

A memorial celebration was held in 2023 and a family remembrance at the Oregon coast was marked by the appearance of a bald eagle with a 6 foot wingspan swooping directly overhead sending a glorious and fitting farewell.