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Rosemary Thompson, 75, kept her large family connected

Her daughter called her "the light of the family."

Mrs. Thompson, here with her grandchildren, loved to dance the night away.
Mrs. Thompson, here with her grandchildren, loved to dance the night away.Read moreCourtesy of the Thompson family
People We’ve Lost
  • Rosemary Thompson
  • 75 years old
  • Lived in Philadelphia
  • One of nine children, she relished her large Irish family

More Memorials

Rosemary Thompson raised three children as a single mother.

“She was the light in the family,” said daughter Christine Rush. “She had the toughest life, very tough, being the youngest, being a single parent. She worked multiple jobs her entire life to help us and keep a roof over our heads.

“But she carried the weight and the energy to keep the family together and create opportunity for the family to get together. If you asked all the nieces and nephews who their favorite aunt was, it was Aunt Rose. She had this energy and light and brightness and love and generosity that were without description.”

Mrs. Thompson, 75, who lived in Philadelphia and Bensalem, died Thursday, April 9, at Rush’s home in Annandale, N.J., of complications from the coronavirus.

One of nine children, she graduated from St. Hubert’s High School. She loved being part of a large Irish family, her daughter said, and although some members moved to Illinois, Virginia, and Massachusetts, she relished everyone getting together at the weddings of her children, nieces, and nephews.

If there was music, Mrs. Thompson would dance.

And she got to dance.

“She was that person. She never sat,” Rush said. “At an event – a wedding, a dinner, a get-together – if there was music, she was dancing. She was a phenomenal dancer. She taught me the jitterbug, and I was her partner growing up.

“When you saw her, she didn’t need anybody. She was up, and she was dancing, and she was celebrating. It just inspired people to get up and enjoy the moment, be thankful for the moment.”

Later in life, Mrs. Thompson worked for the Bensalem School District as a school bus aide working with special-needs children. Then she contracted progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and had to stop working. Ms. Rush said doctors told her PSP patients live only five to seven years with the disease, but her mother lived for more than 10.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Thompson is survived by daughter Kelly Clark and son Thomas; a sister; two brothers; and five grandchildren.

A memorial service is to be held later.

— Joe Juliano