Congregation Beth Israel mourns the loss of Rosemarie Rosenfeld, z”l, who passed away on Sept. 10, 2024 at the age of 93.
osemarie was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1931. . Rosemarie and her younger brother, Thomas, should have enjoyed a comfortable childhood. However, the rise of National Socialism prevented her from attending the neighborhood school or being seen with non-Jewish children. That did not stop her from digging a hole under a newly erected fence to play with a neighboring friend, whose father had joined the SS.
In late 1937, her family travelled to Samedan, Switzerland, to take a vacation while waiting for Nazism to pass. While there, Rosemarie was enrolled in a boarding school, in part to make the family's presence appear more legitimate and less temporary. Swiss authorities were hounding Jewish refugees to return to Germany. In an act of defiance, Rosemarie contracted diphtheria and was hospitalized for months before they could move again, this time to Ascona, near the Italian border, as far from Germany as they were allowed to travel. Her mother, who had for years secretly smuggled savings to Swiss and Dutch bank accounts, was eventually able to purchase a travel visa to France. Rosemarie's father returned to Germany to retrieve a few belongings and met the family in Le Havre, France, where they secured passage as tourists on the SS Normandie to visit New York. Her first glimpse of America and her new life was the Statue of Liberty, the morning of July 8, 1938.
The family settled in Seattle and changed its surname from Schuldenfrei [guilt-free] to Frey [free] in gratitude to a country that generously provided haven. It was also easier to spell. Rosemarie attended John Muir Elementary and graduated Franklin High as valedictorian. She met her husband, Lloyd, her first week at Stanford University and graduated in three years to join him and start a family at George Air Force Base, in the Mojave Desert.
In 1954, with son Dan, they moved to Portland, where Lloyd took a job alongside his father at the Sealy Mattress factory. Rosemarie adapted well to life in Oregon. She taught Lloyd and her three kids to ski, a sport she learned as a child in the Alps and on Mt. Rainier (pre-chair lifts) and later honed on the slopes of Mt. Hood and Mt. Bachelor. When the West Hills Racquet Club opened in 1969, she became a charter member and competitive tennis player. In 1977, Rosemarie earned a Master's in Social Work from Portland State University, followed by a career conducting research for the dean of the OHSU School of Nursing.
Rosemarie's closest friendships came from, and were reinforced through, volunteer work and civic engagements, including with the Oregon Jewish Museum, Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Jewish Family & Child Service, Congregation Beth Israel, Cedar Sinai Park, and Planned Parenthood.
Later in life, Rosemarie's focus shifted to traveling and enjoying time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, of which she was immensely proud. She harbored high expectations of herself and others, believed in the transformative power of hard work and education, and was grateful to be part of a community of longstanding close friends.
Rosemarie is survived by her brother, Tom Frey (June Frey); children, Dan Rosenfeld (Heidi Duckler), Meryl Haber (Gordon Haber), and Eric Rosenfeld (Tiffany Rosenfeld); grandchildren, Anya Valentine, Austen Rosenfeld, Ellery Rosenfeld, Josef Haber, Rachel Naber, Claire Rosenfeld, Layton Rosenfeld, Ben Rosenfeld, and great-grandchildren, Kodiak Valentine, Olympia Valentine, Ezra Alden-Rose, Fritz Haber, Jayne Haber, and Juniper Naber.
Rosemarie was preceded in death by her husband, Lloyd Rosenfeld, z”l, and parents, Clara and Karl Frey, z”l.
The Celebration of Life will be announced at a later date.
Donations in Rosemarie's memory can be directed to Congregation Beth Israel, Jewish Family & Child Service, the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education and Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette.