With sadness we share the news of the death of Rosemary Lafferty Wilcox, 86, on February 8, 2025. She was the mother of the Rev. Diana Wilcox, who shares the following obituary.
Rosemary Lafferty Wilcox
April 6,1938-February 8, 2025
“Dancing Her Way Through Life”
Rosemary was outgoing and gregarious, and she never met a stranger. Born in Beckley, West Virginia to Rose and Dillian Lafferty, she was a woman of strong faith and had a great sense of humor.
After attending Beckley College, she married Dwight Wilcox, also from Beckley, and they had two children, Dwight II and Diana. They lived in Blacksburg, VA, Long Island, NY, and Rockville, Maryland. Following their divorce, she moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida to live by the ocean, a place that was near and dear to her heart.
In her long life she held many jobs – paid and volunteer. The one most meaningful to her was as a volunteer for the AIDS support organization Project Response of Brevard County FL. The one that was the most enjoyable was as an instructor of Aerobic Dancing, Jazzercise, and Slimnastics in Montgomery County MD for over 17 years during the 1970s and 80s. She also worked in retail and restaurants, where she loved meeting the customers, treating them all as good friends she’d just met.
As much as she enjoyed dancing, meeting new people, and seeing new places, nothing compared to her love of animals, dogs especially, whom she considered to be far superior to people in every way. She was sure that her Savior Jesus Christ, having enjoined the faithful to love one another as He loved them, intended that we model that love as our dogs show to us.
She had a great love for all things Christmas, music of almost any genre, and reading mysteries. Yet her greatest love was the Broadway Musical (she would insist on the capitalization). It was to Rosemary an art form of endless fascination and joy, a love she passed on to her children.
Rosemary is survived by her children, Dwight (Carla Dal Coletto) Wilcox, the Rev. Diana Wilcox, and three grandsons Dwight (Bridget), Peter (Jennifer), and Daniel. She would think it remiss if we also didn’t mention her granddogs Quimby and Lexi, her grandcats Katie and Lauren, and her great-granddogs Draper, Lulu, and Bernie.
A Funeral Service will be held at 11 AM on April 5, 2025 at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Annapolis, Maryland.
In lieu of flowers, her family suggests donations be made to BARCS Animal Shelters in your local area, or to Christ Episcopal Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge.
Father of all, we pray to you for Rosemary, and for all those whom we love but see no longer. Grant to them eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them. May her soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
