Obituary of Rosemarie Guarracini

A loving and generous sister, wife, mother, grandmother and aunt who cherished her family, Rosemarie Guarracini, 95, of Lawrenceville NJ passed away peacefully on July 5, 2022 at home. She was a long time resident of Lawrence Township. Rosemarie was born on August 18, 1926 in Buffalo NY to immigrants from small towns near Palermo, Sicily. Rosemarie graduated from South Park High School in June 1944. She was very independent minded and attended NY State College for Teachers at Buffalo (now Buffalo State). She paid her way through school by working as an elevator operator and graduated with a BA in Elementary Education in 1948. Unhappy with life in Buffalo and wanting to see other parts of the country, Rosemarie took her first teaching job in Farmingdale NY. While she loved the job, living in a small rural town was a little too quiet. Her older sister Marion who was working in Washington DC encouraged Rosemarie to join her, as there were plenty of schools in the area. Rosemarie found a teaching job at a private school where many diplomats and executive government workers sent their children. While living in Washington DC Rosemarie enjoyed taking modern dance lessons. She also started to work on a master’s degree - going back to NY State College for Teachers at Buffalo every summer to take classes. Rosemarie received her MS in Elementary Education in August 1953. During this time Rosemarie met her future husband Joe on an “arranged” blind date. They married in August 1953. Rosemarie and Joe continued to live in Washington DC for another 2 years. Seeking better job opportunities and an affordable home the family moved to New Jersey, first to the Collingswood area for four years and then to Lawrence Township in 1960. By 1960, Rosemarie had four children. When the youngest started school, Rosemarie began to volunteer in the library at Ben Franklin School. Shortly thereafter she was hired by the Lawrence Township Public Schools to teach remedial reading and math. A few years later, ESL was starting up and Rosemarie took up the challenge. Initially there were no specific qualifications for ESL but that quickly changed and Rosemarie took college classes to get her certification. In the following 15 years she touched many lives - teaching at the elementary, middle and high school levels, as well as some of the parents on her own time. Rosemarie was always busy - usually sharing her knowledge and skills with her family and the community. She loved to cook for her children and grandchildren and teach them the secrets of her recipes - pancakes from scratch was one of her specialties! Rosemarie tended a garden which included vegetables and herbs for cooking and flowers for the table. She shared her skills as a 4-H leader for a sewing group hosting meetings in her basement. Joe and Rosemarie took their family on a summer vacation every year to visit historical sites and fun places up and down the east coast from Maine to North Carolina. For Rosemarie it was not so much a vacation as she packed food for all of the family breakfasts and lunches! After her children were grown, she continued to stay physically active; she exercised in Jazzercise 3 times a week as well as taking a weekly Healthy Bones exercise class until she was 86. Until several years ago Rosemarie enjoyed walking around the yard and pulling weeds here and there. She had an adventurous spirit, always looking for new things to try. She kept clippings of recipes, new restaurants, and places to visit in the area. In her later years, Rosemarie and Joe took to traveling around the US and Canada visiting Toronto, Montreal, Nova Scotia, the national parks, Washington and Oregon, as well as cruising the Caribbean. Rosemarie was the daughter of the late Francesco Marchese and Madeline LoBuglio Marchese. She was predeceased by her brother Phillip Marchese and sisters Marion Turker and Diane Panepento. She is survived by three daughters: Ann Kosco and her husband John; Mary Guarracini and her husband Ron DiPrinzio; Joan Guarracini and son Paul Guarracini and his wife Holly Ferrell; her grandchildren Peter DiPrinzio and Andrew DiPrinzio and many nieces and nephews. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, July 20th at 11 AM at St. James Roman Catholic Church, 115 East Delaware Ave., Pennington NJ. Visitation for relatives and friends will be held on Wednesday, July 20th from 9 AM to 11 AM in the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Lawrence Township Education Foundation at www.ltefnj.org. Please make all donations directly to this website.