TALLMADGE - Born a coal miner's daughter in Morgantown, West Virginia Rosemary, became baby sister to brothers Paul and Bob in June of 1940. When she was just six weeks of age her father Robert Gatian was killed in a devastating mining accident. In her early teens, along with her beloved mom, Pauline, she left the steep mountains of the Cheat River Gorge for the gently rolling farmland and factories of Northeast Ohio.

She met her husband of sixty years, John, through mutual friends, and together they had three children: Beth, Debbi,
and David. Family came first in everything, and she could always be counted in the crowd at every softball game, marching band halftime show, or musical recital.

Rosemary expected the very best from everyone and led by example, through decades of service to tax clients at H&R Block and later to the citizens of Tallmadge as the city tax administrator. She could run a ticker tape calculator faster than the ink could print.

In her retirement, she devoted herself to her five grandchildren — Kristyn, Challise, Jacob, Jonathan, and Rebecca — picking them up from school, cheering from the sidelines of the soccer pitch, or attending countless concerts art shows and plays.

She never declined a road trip, be it to the beach at the Outer Banks or to her treasured West Virginia. And if she wasn't driving, she was most certainly the "backseat driver."

Although Rosemary appreciated rules and routine, she was not above breaking them or at least bending them now and again, be it sneaking into a drum and bugle corps competition, or being well ahead of her time in allowing her kids to skip school on occasion for what she labeled as "mental health days."

Her later years were marked by rather inspiring resilience: beating back breast cancer, adjusting to the unexpected loss of her husband John in 2022, and navigating the indignities that come with a long life. Remembering the day to day became trivial, while recalling the era of growing up with her tenacious mother, Pauline, and grit-filled grandmother Mary Alice became front and center. She longed for a season of love and laughter with those who had gone before. And on September 4th, 2026, from the comfort of her home of fiftysix years, in unceremonious dignity that season would come to pass.

As daughter, sister, aunt, wife, mom,'just grandma’, and dear friend, she will forever be remembered as loving, steadfast, and faithful.

Family and friends may call from 5pm-7pm Thursday September 10th 2026, at Redmon Funeral Home 3633 Darrow Road, Stow, Ohio 44224. A memorial service will be held Friday September 11th 2026, at 11am in the sanctuary of Chapel Hill Christian & Missionary Alliance Church 1169 Howe Avenue, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221.

In lieu of flowers, gifts in Rosemary’s memory can be made to Chapel Hill Church or Senior Helpers 450 White Pond Drive Suite 200, Akron, Ohio 44320