Rosemarie Menzies

Rosemarie/Rosemary Eileen Giannaco Menzies was born on August 11, 1923 to Marie-Josephine (Meo) and Charles Giannaco in Jersey City, NJ. Valedictorian of Henry Snyder HS Class of 1940, 16-year-old Rosemary embarked upon her what became a 70-year career in the field of financial printing, employed first as a secretary and then as a salesperson. Commuting between Jersey City and Manhattan via ferry or PATH train, Rosemary attended Fordham at night. In the 1950s she frequently traveled internationally on business as a courier, delivering banknote proofs and plates to foreign governments. Still working full-time, Rosemary later married and moved to the Upper West Side and later to Tenafly, NJ, where she was a regular parishioner at Our Lady of Mount Carmel R.C. Church.
Rosemary was a talented artist, an expert editor, and in her youth a keen rollerskater. She had a sunny disposition and knew a song lyric to fit almost every occasion. Rosemary was late for everything, loved a good party, and enjoyed the occasional scotch and soda. She was a dynamo who ran on a few hours of sleep and many gallons of black coffee, always in motion unless she were reviewing annual report galleys. After a long workday and a tedious commute, Rosemary might hem a skirt, make a week's-worth of heat-and-eat casseroles, and type up a book report. She was funny and fun. She had a quick wit and a comedian's timing and delivery, but she was also the best audience, with her big, infectious laugh. Rosemary's warmth, compassion, and generosity of spirit were so irresistible that (more than once) strangers confided their troubles to her between subway stops. She made a person feel special, smart, seen. In short, Rosemary loved people, and they couldn't help but love her in return.
Rosemary is predeceased by her husband Austin and her brothers Vincent and Angelo ("Andrew"), and she is survived by her son Tarn, her daughter Michèle, her beloved son-in-law Ross Abrash, and the lights of her life, her granddaughters Alyssa and Olivia, once and always (if somewhat interchangeably), her "Snookie Poo" and "Peachy Plum."