ROSEMARY BROWNLOW

Rosemary Brownlow (nee Hawkins) was born on March 4, 1926 to the late Elve and Mary (James) Hawkins in Bossier Parish Louisiana. That union was blessed with 13 children, Rosemary being the second eldest, and the oldest girl. Rosemary professed Christ at an early age and attended and was baptized at Mt. Canaan CME Church in Bellevue, Louisiana. She loved the Lord, and would often say “I thank Jesus for my life every day!”  She last attended church, under the leadership of Pastor Pinckney in Columbus, Oh until her health failed and she could no longer do so. Even then, she stayed faithful in her giving. She wanted to live a long life and was blessed with just that!    

Rosemary left Louisiana for Columbus, Ohio early in life, but never forgot her roots. She went back as often as she could for family gatherings and everybody was happy to know when Rosemary would make it back home! Rosemary worked hard to make a good home for her children. Being the mother of three when she left Louisiana, she was not able to take them all to Ohio. So Rosemary did what she had to do to make sure all of her children finally had a place with her in the big city.                                                         

In Columbus, Rosemary worked at various jobs throughout the city, the most memorable being Lee’s Retail Clothing Store and The Ohio State University. She was proud of the work she did at OSU, and received many promotions.  She retired from there in 1992.

Rosemary loved life and enjoyed doing many things with her family and friends. Her most enjoyable years were spent traveling the city and country playing bingo and going on other various fun trips. Family was everything to Rosemary and she loved being with them and celebrating the accomplishments with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She made each one feel special and loved to cook and make treats for them. For example, even though the children loved United Dairy and the Dairy Queen, there was nothing like going to Grandmother’s knowing she would sooner or later break out that extra large tub of ice cream and make each one their own special cone. When her children were young she even made homemade ice cream cones as special treats for them! Rosemary not only loved cooking, she also enjoyed delicious food. Some of her favorite cooked meals included greens with smoked neck bones, fried catfish, corn pudding, homemade rolls, chicken, turkey and dressing, candied yams, Lime Jello salad, sweet potato and Million Dollar pies, 7Up and rum cake. Her favorite restaurant in her later years was Boston Market, always knowing when her favorite waitress was working. That’s when she enjoyed going!

Rosemary was a joy to be around all of the time and loved to laugh! She had the funniest sayings, and if you were down, she would know just what to say to lift your spirits! Imagine our sadness when she suffered her second stroke, thereby losing her ability to speak, but it would be a mistake to think that stopped Rosemary from communicating. She would clap her hands to get your attention or when she was happy to see you, and would gesture for you to come closer or get away! What a remarkable woman she was!    

Besides her parents, Rosemary was preceded in death by 8 of her siblings: Minnie Hawkins, Clarence Williams, Everlean Williams, Chester Hawkins, Rufus Hawkins, Mattie Pearl Jackson, Ollie B McCauley, and Jerry Hawkins. She leaves to mourn her passing her children, Jesse Ray Holmes, Ann Wright, Regeina Brownlow and Stephanie Kibby all of Columbus Ohio, and Eddie (Phyllis) Brown of Cincinnati, Ohio; (12) grandchildren, Renee Hawkins, Tayrone Hawkins, Cleopatra Wright, Randy Dubose, Donte Brownlow,               Davonna (Anthony) French, David Kibby, Devlin (Maria) Kibby, Dawnteonna Kibby, and Asia Ligans all of Columbus, Ohio and Dalyn (Antonia) and Christopher Brown of Cincinnati, Ohio; 16 great grandchildren, and 4 great-great grandchildren. She also leaves her siblings E. V. (Vera) Hawkins of Dallas Tx, Rebecca Trunnell of Columbus Oh, Mabel Swint of Chicago Il,  and Alvin Hawkins of Minden La, along with many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

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