Rosanna Bourdelais Dargoonian's Obituary
Rosanna Bourdelais Dargoonian
November 24, 1920 - March 15, 2020
Born in Lawrence, MA over 99 years ago, Marie Rita Rosanna Demers was the oldest of 12 children born to Joseph L Demers and Marie Rose (Bosse) Demers both from Providence of Quebec, Canada. She would often talk about growing up during the depression years and shared many interesting stories of that era, as well as those of WWII. She experienced a lot in her 99 years on earth.
Being the oldest of 11, Rosanna helped her mother bring up her siblings. She was a hard worker all of her life. At age 16 she took a job as a live-in house keeper/cook/baby sitter for $5 a week so she could help her poor parents. At nineteen she went to work in the Lawrence Mills. First the Pacific Mill, then as a mender in the Ayer Mill, and later when married at the Stevens Mill in Shawsheen. She really loved working in the mills and had to look for another job when all the mills closed down in the late 1940’s. She said that was a very sad time in her life. She then worked for Raytheon for the next 15 years.
In 1940 she met Albert Joseph Bourdelais. They married in 1944 in Fort Jackson So. Carolina, where Al was stationed during WWII. When the war ended, he returned and built a home in Andover, MA where their two daughters Linda & Janice were born. We shared so many wonderful years together as a family. We drove to Quebec Canada every summer to visit our Memere’s family, staying in cabins along the mountain rivers, and actually surviving the trip with no seatbelts on a mattress in the back of the station wagon playing games. We also vacationed at Cape Cod, went to the NY State Fair, took trips to the beach on hot summer eves, and of course every fall to the Topsfield Fair! Holidays were always a grand gathering with aunts, uncles & cousins, with lots of food and laughs on Chandler Road . 45’s were always a Saturday French evening card playing event with their friends and family. But the best times of all was our Sunday family dinners together with making jigsaw puzzles, a lot of record playing, and singing. And of course the player piano! Sadly, in 1965 at the young age of 45, Albert passed away after battling cancer. It was the end of a special era. Rosanna later married Garabed Dargoonian, who pre-deceased her.
Rose was an avid sewer, knitter, and had 10 green thumbs for producing beautiful gardens, especially her gorgeous roses.
We are extremely thankful for the care and love she received from the staff of Nevins Nursing home these last 2 years and for Beacon Hospice.
Rosanna leaves behind her daughter Linda and her husband Larry Kalil of Salem NH, and Janice and her husband John Gray of Tuftonboro NH. Nanna loved her two grandsons, Jeff Kalil and Christopher Kalil as well as her 5 great grandchildren, Marlo, Adelaide, Annabelle, Heide and Amelia, as well as several nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Nevins Nursing & Rehabilitaion Center, 10 Ingalls Ct., Methuen, MA 01844 or Beacon Hospice 290 Merrimack St Suite 242, Lawrence, MA 01843.
There will be no calling hours. Friends and relatives are invited to her Funeral Mass Wednesday March 18, 2020 at 10:30 AM at St. Anthony Maronite Church 145 Amesbury St. Lawrence, MA 01841. PLEASE MEET AT CHURCH Burial will be private.
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