Rosemary D. Gardill

Raised in the Great Depression, Rosemary was the middle child of six children of Robert K. and Marie Elizabeth Meyer Donovan in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Robert Morris College in Pittsburgh, but before turning to raising a family,she served for over 15 years as the Executive Secretary to the Director of the Stainless Steel Division of US Steel in Pittsburgh.

In 1958 she married into a family of pharmacists. Her husband, the late Eugene Thomas Gardill, a World War II Navy veteran, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh and was a registered professional pharmacist and sole proprietor who practiced in Pennsylvania and Virginia before retiring in Texarkana, Texas. Tom and Rosemary first met at the University Club.

Together they had three daughters: Mary Elizabeth Gardill, Boston; Michele Rose Gardill of Dallas, TX; and Caroline Eugenia Thompson of Austin,TX; and two grandchildren, Blake Ryan Thompson and Lyndsey Brooke Thompson. Since her husband died in 2005, Rosemary has lived in Boston with her daughter, Mary,an urban planner and real estate project manager with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Division of Capital Asset Management. Rosemary's late brother John (Jack) Donovan, who was responsible for the fundraising for the Northshore Home for the Deaf, resided in Marblehead, Massachusetts for over 30 years with his wife Mary and three sons, John, Doug and Scott. His oldest son, John carries forward their business Donovan and Associates in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Rosemary was devoted to the Monastery of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was eagerly anticipating the restoration of the Monastery. Because the monastery is closed for renovation during their Stone & Light Building Campaign, friends and family will be received on Saturday, March 19 between 1 pm and 3:30 pm at the Boston Harborside Home of J.S. Waterman & Sons on 580 Commercial St. Holy Communion will be celebrated by the Brothers of the Monastery at 3:30 pm.

Then on Sunday, March 20 there will be a gathering of friends and family at Trinity Church in Copley Square at the 11:15 am service with the Hebrew Theologian Dr. Walter Brueggemann as speaker. Reserved seating will be provided. A reception will follow in the Venetian Room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel.

Rosemary enriched the lives of all who knew her by her generosity of spirit, love of family and charming sense of humor. She was quick to point out the distinction between the temporal and the eternal. Donations in her memory to the Society of Saint John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts would be much appreciated [http://www.ssje.org/support.html].