Rosa Callahan

Rosa Callahan, known to many simply as “Rose,” slipped quietly from this world on March 22, 2018. She recently marked 90 years on this planet.

Rosa made her home in small towns, Hatboro, Pennsylvania and Claymont, Delaware. She studied bookkeeping and office administration. For a time, she worked at Temple University in Philadelphia. Rosa started working as a bookkeeper for a large furniture store in Wilmington, Delaware, soon after her marriage. For many years, she and her husband opened their home to foster children, infants to young teenagers. She went on to be parish secretary at Corpus Christi and St. Elizabeth parishes in Wilmington.

While working at Temple University, she became friends with a young man who would introduce her to the love of her life, John, a WWII veteran. They married soon after meeting and over the years had two daughters. Their daughters married and those families provided Rosa and John with four grandchildren whom they loved and spoiled with abandon. Rosa loved gardening and plants of all kinds, but especially her roses. She was an avid reader, known to often read into the early morning hours. She excelled at craftwork, especially cross-stitch. She was a wonderful cook (John loved her from-scratch spaghetti sauce and homemade meatballs!), who loved having her family gather around her. She was also a knowledgeable canner, and an outstanding baker, talents she learned from her mother and passed along to her second grandson.

Rosa lost John in 2010 to cancer. She was the oldest of five siblings - Joseph, Michael, Josephine, Ella - all pre-deceased. She is survived by her daughters, Roseann (Robert) Flickenger and Marie Shires; and her grandchildren, Robert Flickenger, Richard Flickenger, Morgan Shires and William Shires.

Mass of Christian Burial will be on Monday April 2nd, at 11:00am at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, 809 S. Broom Street in Wilmington, Delaware. Visitation begins at 10:00am. Following Mass, a Committal Service will be held at the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bear, Delaware.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation in Rosa’s honor be made to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, 34 Washington St., Suite 200, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481 Phone: 781-237-3800 Fax: 781-658-2399 info@curealz.org

To offer condolences, visit:

gebhartfuneralhomes.com

302.798.7726

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Rosa Callahan, please visit our floral store.