Rosemary Cawley


Date of birth: 04/19/1916
Date of death: 07/13/2012
Visitation Hours:
Service Time: Funeral Mass 11 am Tuesday at St. Martha\'s Roman Catholic Church, Point Pleasant
Cemetery:
Funeral Home:
Ro Cawley, 96, passed away quietly on Friday, July 13, 2012. She was a resident since October 2011 of Magnolia Gardens Assisted Living Center at Green Acres in Toms River, New Jersey.
Ro was a widow, her husband, Patrick, also a WWII Nurse, who passed away in 1990. Her son, Michael, a Battalion Chief in the Newark Fired Department, died in 2005 and a daughter, Kathleen, died in infancy.
Ro is survived by her children, Br. Kevin Cawley of New Rochelle, NY, Brian Cawley (Donna) of Willimantic Ct, Tris Gallant (John) of Point Pleasant NJ, Kate McNally (Tom) of South Orange, NJ and Martin Cawley (Mary) of Point Pleasant, NJ., her beloved niece, Maryrose Coiner (Mike) of Marlboro, Massachusetts and Danielle Cawley, widow of Michael, in White House Station, NJ. There are 11 grandchildren: Tiffany, Christopher, Benjamin, Shannon , Linda, Amanda, Joe, Lauren, Jason, Rebecca and Alexandra, and 8 great- grandchildren: Ryan, Luke, Joey, Elizabeth, Grace Kathleen, Michael, Kenyon, Jillian Eve, and Colleen Rose.
Rosemary Queenan was born in Newark, New Jersey, on April 19, 1916, the third of four children of Patrick and Mary Judge Queenan, both born in Ireland. Her siblings, Mary Queenan, Peggy Carew and Vincent Queenan are deceased.
Baptized “Rosemary Theresa” in St. Antoninus Church in Newark, she later graduated from St. Vincent's Academy in Newark in 1933 and entered St. Vincent Hospital School of Nursing in New York completing her nursing studies in 1936. Ro worked as a hospital nurse at St. Luke's, later, Roosevelt Hospital, on the West Side of Manhattan until 1942 when she entered the U.S. Army. The 9th Army Evacuation Hospital was her unit of service from Roosevelt Hospital. She served in North Africa, and Europe during WWII in the campaigns to liberate North Africa, Sicily and the Italian Peninsula. Decorations include E.A.M.E. Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Meritorious Service Unit Plaque, Tunisia Campaign, Naples, Foggia Campaign, Rome Arno Campaign, Southern France, Campaign Rhineland, and Central Europe Campaign. Ro was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain in 1946 and was always very proud of her years of service to her country during WWII.
In 1946 she married Patrick Cawley of Pittston, Pennsylvania in St. Antoninus Church in Newark. They had met while in nursing school at St. Vincent's Hospital in NYC. Ro and Pat moved to Manchester, Connecticut and later Havertown, Pennsylvania before returning to Clifton Avenue in Newark in 1957.
All the children attended Our Lady of Good Counsel Church and School in Newark. The house on Clifton Avenue was generally full of people, neighborhood children and adults from the parish as well as later on, school and college friends as the family grew older. Ro and Pat loved to have people around and the house was always alive with activity. After the children had grown and moved on, Ro and Pat were persuaded to locate to Point Pleasant on the Jersey Shore in 1984.
Ro had gone back to school in the early 1970's to finish her bachelor's degree at Jersey City State College to qualify as a School Nurse in Newark before moving to Point Pleasant. She continued her nursing service as a volunteer for several years in the Oncology unit at Brick Hospital after the death of her husband, Patrick.
Ro was active in St. Martha's Parish in Point Pleasant and enjoyed her time there with the good friends in the Beehive, the Rosary/ Altar Society and other senior citizen groups.

Relatives and friends are invited to visit from 2-4 & 7-9 pm Monday at the O'Brien Funeral Home, 505 Burnt Tavern Road, Brick. Mass of the Resurrection will be offered at 11 am Tuesday at St. Martha's Roman Catholic Church in Point Pleasant. Internment following cremation will be at Arlington National Cemetery at a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the American Cancer Society, 801 Broad Street, Shrewsbury, NJ 07702.