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Mary Rosko
Mary Rosko died at her Southampton home surrounded by her family on Thursday, March 3, following complications from pulmonary fibrosis. She was 84.
Born in 1926 to Julia Mackowicz and T. Edward Somers, Ms. Rosko grew up in Sag Harbor in her grandparents’ home on Glover Street, next to the Cillis’s farm and across from Upper Sag Harbor Cove, which she always remembered fondly. A vegetable garden and some livestock sustained the family through the Depression, and she attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart of Mary and graduated from Pierson High School in 1943. As a teenager, she worked at the Sag Harbor Variety store and was an usherette at Sag Harbor Cinema, and was later a bookkeeper at the Bulova Watch Case factory.
Ms. Rosko never regretted turning down a clerical position in Washington, D.C. because it kept her close to home and she would not have met husband, Leo Rosko, at a dance at Lenny’s on Long Beach. Mr. Rosko was the love of her life, and the two married in 1946. They raised four children on Hill Street in Southampton, and she worked as a payroll clerk in Mr. Rosko’s business, Rosko Produce, Inc. Starting in the 1970s they spent winters on Singer Island in Florida.
An avid seamstress, cook, and gardener, Ms. Rosko took great pride in her home and family. She was active in Our Lady of Poland Church parish, serving as a member of the Ladies Guild and as a eucharistic minister for 10 years; the family was also involved with productions at the Polish Hall. She was a Cub Scout den mother, 4-H leader, and member of the Southampton Golf Club 9-Holers.
After Mr. Rosko died in 1996, she was blessed to see her family often, in Southampton and in travels across the country. She saw grandchildren graduate and marry, and welcomed six great-grandchildren into her life. She was a constant support to her family, and grandma’s house was always the center of holiday gatherings.
Besides her husband, Ms. Rosko was predeceased by her son, Leon; and grandson, Leon. She is survived by her children, Mary Bishop, Eileen Skretch and husband Ted, and John Rosko and wife Joanne; and grandchildren, Ben Bishop, Remus Rosko, Rebecca Rosko, Jesse Rosko, Adam Skretch, Keith Skretch, Carisa Skretch, Seth Rosko, Ian Rosko, Alyssa Giruzzi, and John Giruzzi.
Ms. Rosko requested that her body be donated to the Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Family and friends gathered at her home on Sunday, March 6, to celebrate her life. Memorial donations may be made in her name to East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978-7048.
on Mar 9, 2011