ROSEMARY LEA

LEA--Rosemary, earned her wings on July 29th. It was reported that Miss Lea met her queen for tea first thing, (a mocha frappe or blood orange margarita, more like). Rosie was born on June 27, 1927 in Worcestershire, England to Barbara and Thomas Lea. After leaving England in her twenties, she worked with children in both Belgium and Jamaica before settling in New York City. She was a first grade teacher at St Bernard's forever, where she taught her boys to read, play with numbers and think. She enthralled students and colleagues with her telling of Bible stories, The Pilgrim's Progress and English History and wrote plays and alphabets for them to perform. Simultaneously playful and exacting, she showed the boys that hard work can be fun and that humor has a place in all their endeavors. And how she loved St Bernard's! A marvelous marmalade maker, reader, traveler and adventurer, and always the teacher, Rosie will be missed by her family, friends and students on whose lives she had a lasting and uplifting impact. She was predeceased by her sisters Barbara Goble and Philippa Kenyon-Slaney and her brother Julian Lea, beloved all. She is survived by her sister Lavinia Marsden- Smedley and many nieces, nephews and grands, too "mentionous." If you wish to honor her, please think of the children and do what you can. There will be a memorial in the fall.