Rosemary Bingham passed away, surrounded by her three beloved daughters, on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. She was just over a month away from her 99th birthday.
Rosemary was born on June 28th, 1920 in Niotaze, Kansas. She was raised on her grandmother’s farm from the age of 3 until age 12. It was there that she and her older sister Florine (deceased) learned to collect eggs, grow vegetables, milk cows, climb the apple tree for apples, raise countless kittens and puppies, ride horses to and from school (uphill both ways!), and wait for the Sears and Roebuck catalog to come in the mail each month.
Rosemary was fond of saying that she “grew up like a weed” which to us meant she flourished even under harsh conditions. She was resilient, persistent, and dominates a place in our hearts that will never die.
She met and married her handsome “West Pointer,” Sidney “Budge” Bingham in Dallas, Texas in 1941 and was swooped up into the adventurous life of a military wife. After WWII, they raised three daughters, Judy, Janis and Pat. They lived around the world in places including Saigon, Vietnam, Teheran, Iran and various posts stateside before settling down permanently in Aspen in 1963.
Rosie was a skier-turned-tennis enthusiast after a knee injury and “those darned uncomfortable ski boots” led her to countless days of tennis in Aspen year-round. It was on the tennis courts that she met most of her lifelong friends. She was also an avid gardener and green thumb. Her giant purple Clematis vine on the front of her Snowbunny home caused passersby to slow and compliment her every summer.
After Budge passed away in 1993, Rosie moved to Carbondale to be near her daughter Pat. She lived many happy years there surrounded by kind neighbors and views of Mt. Sopris and the Crystal River from her back porch. She relished family gatherings in Carbondale and celebrated her 90th birthday in 2010 with many of her “old Aspen” chums.
Rosie loved flowers, bluebirds, cowboy tunes, and had more mountain lion sightings than anyone we know! She also made the best apple pie in the world and luckily her secrets were passed down to her family. There was one thing she said she loved more than people — raw onions! She once asked for so many extra onions on her burger at the Red Rock Diner in Carbondale, that then-owner Bob Olenick brought her an entire raw onion on a plate!
Rosemary is survived by her daughters Judy Sears, Janis Taylor, and Pat Bingham Fitzpatrick (Greg) and grandchildren Joanne Bruskotter (Kurt), Carey Kyer (Kevin), Ashleigh Lambert (Justin), Chris Taylor (Emily), Hilary and Josh Fitzpatrick and eight great-grandchildren.
She will be missed and never forgotten. A private memorial with family and friends is being planned.