Rosemary Hall Henshaw, of Westlake Village, CA, died Friday of a massive heart attack. She was 85. Rosemary Hall was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1917, the only child of Benjamin Franklin Hall and Benedict Marie Kelly. Imagine a woman with wisdom, tenacious loyalty, an immense capacity to love all the creatures of the world, and amplify that astonishing vision with a cane decorated in pansies, a hat trimmed by mice running around the brim, glitter and pink lipstick beneath a shock of white hair. Now you’re getting closer.

She is fiercely loved and survived by her three daughters Molly, Deborah, and Georgeanne; her granddaughters Molly, Alison, Rosemary, and Michelle; her great-granddaughter Caley; her grandsons Michael, Mark, George, Ken, and Sean; and her great grandsons Sam and Dylan.

Countless others celebrate her life, none of whom will ever be able to imagine a world without her. Nor will they need to, for she will thrill them with memories: each frog who drops crystal cries in your hand, each mention of the Convent of the Sacred Heart where she spent her youth and sent her daughters, each whisper of the word "Georgie," her handsome, devoted husband with whom she is now forever reunited, each "thumb of butter" ever secreted into a "healthy" recipe.

The testament is illustrative of something greater than we can know; to be in Grandma’s presence was something magical and important. There will never be a world without Billie, Rosie, Mother, Grandma George, Gaga, Grandma Rose - her soul lives forever, and God knows her name.

Services were held Tuesday, January 21 at St. Maximilian Kolbe. In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to the Rosemary Hall Henshaw Memorial Fund, c/o Academy of the Sacred Heart, 1250 Kensington Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 49304, 248-646-8900. "Oh the vandals! Fancy killing all those young flowers for the sake of an old woman." — Colette

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