Roseann "Rosie" Ragukonis

It is so hard to write this because words can never truly express how much one person has touched a life especially someone as important to me as my Aunt Rose.

Throughout my 35 years, my Aunt Ro was a constant presence in my life and truly embodied the role of godmother. She was there at every major event, accomplishment, milestone, and obstacle I experienced and always knew how to support, comfort and guide me. She always took the time to call me to wish me well on another year of school, congratulate me on an achievement, or check in to see how I was doing. Whether we were chatting about family, friends, life, politics, or similar interests, each talk came from the heart from a person that genuinely loved and cared. She would even call my home at 5am during bad weather to offer to take me school. She was always giving from her heart and that generosity and love was shared to everyone. She was always there. And now she is not.

Accepting that she is gone has been the hardest hurdle for many of us, especially me. How can someone who has been a steadfast presence in your life be suddenly gone? Realizing that I will not see her phone number on my caller ID or open my mailbox to find a card from her for every occasion is devastating. Those little things that I took for granted now mean more to me than anything. Not being able to share my life with her in the same way that I used to hurts to no end. There are so many things I wish I could have said or done for her while she was still with us. I wish she was still here with us but it was her time.

As I entered numerous hotspots throughout Nutley, Belleville and Clifton, people stopped me to offer condolences for my Aunt Ro-Ro. They shared their pain and sadness of her passing and miss the wonderful moments shared with her. Each shared how much fun they had bantering with her and how much she meant to them. Others talked about how generous and helpful she was and recounted a story they had of her kindness. The outpouring of love and care from each of them, I know, deeply touched my aunt.

Even though she is not physically with us, Roseann Ragukonis lives on in our hearts because her 83 years on this earth were spent making the lives of those around her better. Her strength, resiliency, faith, love, generosity and caring will never be forgotten and will continue to inspire each of us every day. I miss my Aunt Rose so much but I am happy she is reunited with her family and at rest with the Lord.


"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master´s happiness!"- Matthew 25:23