She was born to parents Kenneth Leonard Waycott and Cora Lucile Thompson, on May 19, 1942 in Portland, Maine.
Her father’s affinity for Western fiction novels is how Rosita & her older sister, Bonita, came by their Spanish names in the Great Northern Woods. Rosie took after her woodsman father as a tomboy pretending she was a cowboy in the Wild West, swinging from trees, and living off the land bivouacking in the forest. She had a natural appreciation for animals & the outdoors so cheerfully joined the Camp Fire Girls & later the Girl Scouts. She never missed a summer at the Big Lake church camp in Princeton, Maine.
After she graduated from Calais Memorial High School in 1960, she left home for studies at The Washington State Teachers College in Machias, Maine & then on to school in Aurora, Illinois outside of Chicago. It was there she saw an ad in the newspaper that the United States Department of Sate was hiring secretaries for adventures overseas.
Rosita met Marlow in 1968 as she got off the plane for her first assignment overseas in Rangoon, Burma. They were married within the year & together they raised two boys: John & Kevin all over the Middle East & Asia.
Rosita worked at US Embassies for nearly 30 years treading over 6 continents. She retired from globetrotting in 2007 to settle in Leesburg where it reminded her of Burma & Thailand.
She was never idle long; she enjoyed decorating cakes; hosting dinner parties; playing cards; singing camp fire songs in the car; Mothering Cub Scout Dens; reciting poetry & famous quotes; jet setting to the ends of the Earth; participating in the Million Mom March & the Women’s March in Washington DC; feeding hyenas off a 2-foot stick in Kenya; riding elephants, donkeys & camels in India; dodging rockslides trekking the Khyber Pass; rafting the Kunhar River Valley in Pakistan; geode & fossil hunting in Turkey; tap dancing; Karate chopping bike thieves in Bangkok; teaching the lost art of Short Hand; watercolor painting; photography; picnics & ice cream sampling along Maine’s Route One; visiting historic sites; and taking in stray animals.
Rosie was preceded in death by her parents; & her husband Marlow of 48 years. She is survived by her eldest sister Bonita & her husband Bruce Archer of Lubeck, Maine; her #1 son John, his wife Elizabeth Strand & her children Amelia & Austin; Rosie’s #2 son Kevin of Virginia; and three generations of nieces & nephews in New Brunswick Province, Canada.
Rosie was laid to rest with her husband Marlow at the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Washington.
Rosita's Celebration of Life Page: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.facebook.com/groups/345896734667258__;!!M2D_dUfSiN4E!O3jROm69jKRPfMhGgqR3H9-Jxbj-FRr9GTvTOnHVNcgdmVLYoPK908nrrmRSy6UQUmso4XlmvuENTuHdbohdSm3Q$
A funeral service for Rosita will be held 5:00 PM Saturday, October 21, 2023 at Evergreen Washelli Funeral Home, 11111 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133, followed by a reception.
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