Rosemary (Rory) Hellis Purcell passed away on August 5th, 2024, at 96 years young.
Rosemary Jordan Hellis was born on June 21, 1928, to Mary Jordan Stone & William Bradford Hellis. In Santa Ana Ca, where she spent her entire youth growing up.
She had many fond memories of her childhood, traveling across the country, by train, with her parents to visit her many relatives in Virginia.
Growing up in Southern California, Rosemary was smitten with the Hollywood movie stars, and as a young girl would write to the stars and in return received autographed pictures which she cherished for years. (I bet none of you knew that one about her!)
After graduating from Santa Ana High School, she traveled to Boulder Co. for college. There, while playing basketball in the gym, walked in a handsome young man; whom she soon fell in Love with, and he soon became her husband Robert (Bob) Purcell. They were married for 63 years until his passing.
After her Beautiful wedding to Bob, they road-tripped it from California to Richland where they set down roots and never left. There they welcomed their 2 Children, Cynthia & Richard.
Over the years they also hosted an AFS exchange student from Switzerland, Pascale (Kalou); and basically had an open door policy for all the Skaters, Boy Scouts, exchange students and travelers needing a safe place to stay; there were always extra kids running around the house.
Rory & Bob both became active in the community, joining the Richland Light Opera Company, helping produce dozens of shows over the next 60 years.
Rory & Bob also loved to play cards, especially Bridge, and once in Richland they found 5 more bridge loving couples and created a group that played together every month for over 50 years; celebrating holidays and special occasions.
Rory was also involved with a weekly women’s bridge group of neighbors & friends. They were long time members of the Meadow Springs Country Club where, you guessed it, she played in another weekly women’s bridge club & they played in a weekly couple’s bridge club.
Rory & Bob were lifelong members of All Saints Episcopal Church, where Rory was a long-standing part of the Altar Guild for the church.
Along with playing cards she shared a love of music with her husband; hundreds of LPs of classical music lined their shelves. There was always a stack of LP records playing on the old phonograph, all of the old classics.
Rosemary Loved to read, she was well known for always having a book, or 5, in her purse to keep her occupied. Her basement shelves were lined with all the series of books she read and Bob had to continue to add more shelves to keep up with all of her books she had read. We often told her she should become a Librarian for her love of books.
Rosemary was also talented in needle point, making many intricate and beautiful creations, which Bob hung on the walls. She was also an avid knitter, making adorable sweaters for her grandchildren and knitting hats for the preemies at Kadlec. She also knitted thousands of hats and mitten sets to donate to local charities for needy children.
When Bob became interested in Genealogy, so did Rory. They traced their family history back to the Mayflower, England and Ireland. They would travel the country in their motor home visiting new found family relatives, attending family reunions and even traveled to England to visit the graves of 3 family members buried in Westminster Abbey.
No one remembers when it happened but somewhere along the way Rory started collecting small snail figurines. This collection soon took on a life of its own and she would receive snails as gifts for birthdays and holidays. Snails of all sizes started appearing around the home, ceramic, metal, stuffed, cloth, pictures, glass, stone, clothing, lapel pins, necklaces, cookie jars, tape holders, you name it it was a snail; even very large stone ones that her young grandchildren would sit on and pretend to ride like a pony. Who knew there were so many types of snail things out there!
We have often joked we are going to call Guinness because she must have had the largest snail collection in the world!
After a nasty bout of pneumonia in 2019 she was forced to move out of her home and into a retirement center where she continued to play bridge twice a week. Covid Struck shortly after she moved in and the lockdown started soon after. Her Incredible love of books thankfully helped keep her sanity intact and spirits up during the Covid lock down, along with daily phone calls from her daughter. Even living at the retirement center she somehow managed to escape Covid and as soon as the restrictions were lifted, she was right back to playing bridge again.
In the 70’s & 80s when entering contests became all the rage Rory made it into an art form and basically a career. She had it all organized, categorized, and kept meticulous records, winning thousands of prizes! Everything from candy bars (1 Baby Ruth candy bar a day for a year, yes a box of 365 Baby Ruths showed up at my door!), a projection screen TV (oh my getting that inside was a bugger), T-shirts, bicycles, Legos, Match Box cars, even a few trips ( Rose Bowl, Fishing in Canada & France) She always had a box full of winning trinkets the grandkids could pick through when they came over and a candy drawer in the kitchen!
Her Grandchildren will forever remember her as “The Best Strawberry Freezer Jam Maker Ever!’
Rosemary is the longest living member of her family; out living her Mother and Aunties who lived to be 95&94. We thought she was going to outlive us all but the good Lord called her home to be with Dad.
Rosemary was preceded in death by her Loving husband Robert and Great Grandson Phoenix; and leaves behind her daughter Cynthia, son Richard, Grandchildren: Amanda, Jason, Marcus, Codie, Alina & Olivia & Greatgrands Daphne, Kaya, Avery, Lucy, Gavin, Kaiden, Luna & Matthew, along with a dozen Nieces & Nephews.
Graveside service will be Friday September 6th at 1:00pm at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Richland WA.
Guestbook for
Rosemary H Purcell