TORRINGTON – Memorial services for Roselyn Stewart Rice Johnson Leary, 84, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, April 16, 2021 at the Colyer Funeral Home with Pastor Bill Nixon officiating. Burial will follow in the Valley View Cemetery. Roselyn died April 9, 2021 and cremation has taken place. Memorials may be given to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Arrangements are by the Colyer Funeral Home and condolences may be sent to www.colyerfuneralhome.com.
Roselyn was born in Warren, Ohio in 1937. She inherited her father’s love and talent for drawing, and eventually chose the media of oil and watercolor paints to create her art. She dedicated her life to teaching. When she moved to California, Roselyn completed an additional degree in art at Loma Linda University. After moving to Pocahontas County in West Virginia in 1979 with her husband James William Leary (deceased 2007) where she took great pleasure in working as a high school art teacher for the last twenty years of her career.
Roselyn created beautiful paintings throughout her lifetime. Several of them received awards. She displayed paintings in five one-woman shows and enjoyed the honor of having five of her paintings featured in West Virginia Wildlife Calendars. Roselyn and Jim moved to Torrington in 1999 and was active in volunteer work for her church and the community. She looked forward to the spring and summer months because it meant she could spend hours outside working in her flower garden. Her family and friends will remember her for her love of connecting with people, her willingness to engage in conversation on any topic, her quick wit, the twinkle in her eye at the thought of a good joke, and her unforgettable laugh and smile.
Roselyn is survived by her sister Marilyn; daughter Stefanie; stepchildren Bill and Heather; eight grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
