Philomena Rozario

Our mother, Philomena Rozario, was born in Jan 1933, in Konnaikudi, South India. She was the fourth of nine children and the eldest girl, born to her parents. Mother often spoke very fondly about her childhood in the village and her family life there. She talked about being woken up very early each morning to attend the morning mass with her grandfather and siblings and again the evening mass.

She remained true to her faith throughout her life. Her family remained in the village until she was in the fourth grade, and then moved to Lalgudi, a nearby town, so that she could continue her education. Mother completed her high school at the Girls High School in Lalgudi, and then joined a convent as a novitiate, but was pulled out of the convent by her eldest brother. She was then recruited by the Indian airlines as a flight attendant, but she declined the position and instead she became a trained Physical Education teacher. She was the first trained female P.E teacher in the Thiruchi district. She worked as a Physical Education instructor in several schools in India, before leaving India at the age of 21 to get married to our father I.M Rozario, in Malaysia. (Our father always joked that he married a nun). She then proceeded to work part time in Malaysia, until 1973.

Our mother was a prolific blood donor in Malaysia and was honored as the top female blood donor in Malaysia. After living in Malaysia for almost forty years, our parents left the life and friends they had in Malaysia, to move to The United States in 1992. Our mother quickly slipped into the role of taking care of all of us. She and our father took care of their grandchild Angela, in Houston and enjoyed going to Amarillo to visit Michael, their grandson. Mother also tried to resume her blood donation here but was not able to do it due to the protocols here.

Mother retained her faith throughout her life and spent a great deal of time in prayer. Her unshakable faith was exemplified when her oldest son Gillbert was admitted to the intensive care unit with life threatening injuries, but mother remained very calm and unafraid. When asked, she said that God knew best what Gillbert needed and that whatever God willed, she would accept. Our mother will always be remembered for her devotion to her faith, her life of prayer and her desire to always be helpful to others. She expressed contentment with her life.

She died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 92, on March 13, 2025.

Gillbert, Elizabeth and Ignatius want to express their heartfelt gratitude to Jeffrey McKay, our parents’ son-in-law, for taking care of our parents during their time in the United States.