Rosemarie Barbara Beekhof passed at 93 years young on May 3rd. Mom was a native of Syracuse, NY where she and her younger sister, Judy, grew up.
Rosemarie married Peter, Sr. on October 7, 1956, and had Pamela, their first child, in September 1957. In February 1961 they had Peter, Jr. In March of 1961 they drove to California for a vacation where mom spoke of hanging diapers on the line in her shorts and bare feet.
She told dad that she wanted to move to California on their drive back to Syracuse.
They moved to Sylmar, CA where they had their 3rd child Kelly in June of 1963. About two years later they moved again landing in San Jose. They didn’t like the traffic or smog any better in San Jose and wanted land and a place for us kids to grow up with animals. They moved to Soquel, CA in August of 1965 to a six-acre ranchette with redwood trees and a creek across the road where they raised us kids, horses, and a menagerie of animals.
Mom was a cosmetologist by trade but spent most of her life as a homemaker. She hauled us to 4-H meetings, little league, and other after school sports. We went on family camping trips and an especially momentous trip across the country to Syracuse in 1976 to move her mom,
Anne, Judy, and her daughter Heidi to Santa Cruz. It was a trip of a lifetime and mom and dad made sure we saw as much of the country as possible. We also had Peter, Jr’s. best friend Kenny on our grand adventure – and what an adventure it was. The camper slept four and
there were eight of us (Anne flew back to California).
Mom enjoyed 3 grand children from Peter, Jr: Amanda (husband D’art), Ashley (fiancée Ben) and Chance (significant other, Sarah) and 2 great grandchildren from Amanda: Logan and Lily. Kelly gave her grandchildren: Kristy (husband Jake) and Katie (husband Michael). Kristy added 4 more great grandchildren: Kaelyn, Aria, Melody and Jax.
After dad’s passing in December 2015 mom continued her adventures with her family. She traveled around the area and up the coast stopping at as many quilt shops as possible with Pam who she shared a great love of quilting with. She joined Kelly and her crew on many
camping trips over the years and you could always catch Kelly popping in for lunch a few times each week to chat. She very much enjoyed attending holiday parties and festivities hosted by Peter, Jr. whether it was a barn party with live music or a simple birthday party. She loved being with her family.
Mom leaves an enormous hole in all our lives and will be sorely missed.
A celebration of life will be held at Peter’s house 1901 Arabian Lane on May 25th at 2pm.
We love you and miss you mom.