ROSE ANNETTE CARNEY (NEE DiGAETANO) FOUGHT A LONG AND VALIANT BATTLE AGAINST LUNG DISEASE BUT TIME RAN OUT.  SHE PASSED AWAY PEACEFULLY ON JULY 17, 2025 IN MELBOURNE FLORIDA UNDER THE CARE OF HOSPICE KNOWING THAT HER FAMILY WAS AT HER SIDE.  HER HUSBAND HELD HER HAND.

ROSE WAS BORN ON SEPTEMBER 21,1946 IN LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS TO LOUIS DiGAETANO AND GENEVIEVE SAROKA.  SHE GREW UP IN LAWRENCE AND GRADUATED FROM LAWRENCE HIGH SCHOOL.  DURING HER SOPHOMORE YEAR SHE MET PAUL CARNEY, A FRESHMAN AT THE SAME SCHOOL.  THAT DAY WAS THE BEGINNING OF A 63 YEAR LONG LOVE AFFAIR THAT INCLUDED 57 YEARS AS DEVOTED HUSBAND AND WIFE.  PAUL AND ROSE ATTENDED 3 PROMS TOGETHER ALONG WITH HOMECOMING BALLS, SUNDAY AFTERNOON FOOTBALL GAMES AND NUMEROUS OTHER SCHOOL SPONSORED ACTIVITIES.  ROSE WAS A VERY POPULAR STUDENT AND CHEERLEADER FOR HER SCHOOL.

UPON GRADUATION ROSE ATTENDED COSMETOLOGY SCHOOL AND RECEIVED HER STATE COSMETOLOGY LICENSE BEGINNING A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL STYLIST CAREER WHILE PAUL BEGAN HIS MILITARY SERVICE.  UPON PAUL’S RETURN FROM VIETNAM IN OCTOBER 1968 THE COUPLE WAS MARRIED 10 DAYS LATER.  AFTER A SHORT LEAVE THEY RETURNED TO PAUL’S DUTY STATION IN CALIFORNIA WHILE HE FINISHED HIS MILITARY OBLIGATION.

ROSE EARNED HER CALIFORNIA COSMETOLOGY LICENSE AND BUILT A BRAND NEW CLIENTELE VERY RAPIDLY.  ALWAYS CHEERFUL, HAPPY AND OUTGOING SHE DEVELOPED A RATHER LARGE CIRCLE OF FAITHFUL FRIENDS.  IN 1987 PAUL RECEIVED A JOB TRANSFER TO KENNEDY SPACE CENTER IN FLORIDA TO ASSIST IN RESTAFFING AS THE SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM RECOVERED FROM THE CHALLENGER DISASTER OF JANUARY 1986.  ONCE AGAIN ROSE CHEERFULLY AND SELFLESSLY PACKED THE FAMILIES LIFE TREASURES, BADE FAREWELL TO HER FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES AND ONCE AGAIN MOVED CLEAR ACROSS THE COUNTRY ON WHAT SHE CALLED “A NEW SEIRIES OF ADVENTURES”.  SHE OBTAINED HER FLORIDA COSMETOLOGY LICENSE BUT CHOSE NOT TO REENTER THAT FIELD.  INSTEAD SHE OPTED FOR A CAREER CHANGE AND TOOK A POSITION WITH MELBOURNE INTERNAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATES (MIMA) WHERE SHE ONCE AGAIN EXCELED AT WHAT SHE DID AND MADE MANY DEAR FRIENDS, MANY OF WHOM SHE MAINTAINED AND NURTURED UNTIL HER DEATH.

PAUL TOOK EARLY RETIREMENT AS THE SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM BEGAN ITS EVENTUAL TERMINATION AND PAUL AND ROSE BEGAN YET ANOTHER SERIES OF ADVENTURES WHICH INCLUDED AN UNTOLD NUMBER OF CRUISES, ROAD TRIPS AND VISITING STATES THEY HAD ONLY FLOWN OVER OR DRIVEN THROUGH ON THEIR CROSS COUNTRY RELOCATIONS.  JUST FOR GOOD MEASURE THEY VISITED THE TWO STATES NOT WITHIN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES.  IN HER LATER LIFE ROSE BECAME AN ARDENT GARDENER AND LANDSCAPE SPECIALIST AND AN ACCOMPLISHED REAL ESTATE INVESTOR.

BESIDES HER HUSBAND ROSE IS SURVIVED BY HER TWO SONS, TIMOTHY AND PATRICK, BOTH OF WHOM RESIDE IN MELBOURNE AND BOTH OF WHOM SHE LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY AND COMPLETELY.  SHE ADORED WITHOUT LIMITS HER GRANDSON BENJAMIN ALSO OF MELBOURNE.  SHE ALSO LEAVES A BROTHER, ANTHONY AND A SISTER KAREN, BOTH OF CALIFORNIA, AND A LARGE FAMILY OF COUSINS, NIECES AND NEPHEWS.  ROSE WAS TRULY A RARITY ON THIS EARTH AND WILL BE SADLY MISSED BY ALL WHO KNEW HER. GOD REST HERSOUL.  INTERMENT WILL BE AT CAPE CANAVERAL NATIONAL CEMETARY AT A DATE AND TIME YET UNDETERMINED.

A CELEBRATION OF HER LIFE WILL BE HELD AT A PLACE AND TIME STILL UNDETERMINED.