M. Rosalie Willson Mullooly

Margaret Rosalie Stewart Willson Mullooly passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by her family on May 19, 2009 , following a brief battle with cancer. Rosalie was born in Peoria, IL on Nov. 19, 1919, the fifth of seven children born to Philip L. Stewart and Margaret Aldridge Stewart. She attended schools in Peoria, graduating with honors from Peoria Central High School. In 1940 she received her RN from St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing.   The following year she received an advanced certification in neo-natal nursing from Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC, after which she returned to Peoria to become the first director of the neo-natal nursery for St. Francis Hospital.   She met Lawrence W. Willson in Peoria in 1938 when he was a student at Bradley University. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Willson enlisted in the Navy. They were married on January 30, 1943, and lived in Highland Park, IL near the Great Lakes Naval Base until Mr. Willson was sent overseas, whereupon Rosalie returned to Peoria. In Nov. 1952 they moved to Galesburg. Mr. Willson died on June 2, 1976. On June 9, 1984 she married Gordon L. Mullooly. He died April 17, 1996.   Rosalie raised five children in Galesburg. She was a charter member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, where she was active in the Ladies of Mary Guild and helped establish the Guild quilting program. She was active for more than 50 years with the American Legion Auxiliary, was a longtime volunteer both at the Galesburg Mental Health Hospital and at Cottage Hospital. For the last 6 years of her life, she did hand quilted healing quilts for Women’s Strength and for St. Jude’s Children‘s Hospital.   Rosalie was a wicked bridge player, an artist with a needle, a voracious reader of poetry and history, a lover of music, a steadfast friend, and a beloved wife, cherished mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and sister. She was a gentle and loving soul who will be missed by all who knew her.   Rosalie was preceded in death by her parents, her husbands, and four of her six siblings. She is survived by her children: Kathryn Willson Staab (Jerry Staab), Lawrence W. Willson (Karen Willson), Margaret Willson Winkler (Gary Winkler), Elizabeth Anne Willson (R. Garland Phillips), and Stephen R. Willson (fiancé Kathleen Pokrzywa); by her sisters Frances Stewart Gardiner and Virginia Stewart Zant; by seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.  Funeral arrangements are being handled by Watson Funeral Home. A funeral Mass will be held at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on Saturday May 23, 2009 at 11 a.m. Interment at St. Joseph’s Cemetery will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in her name to the Galesburg Public Library, the American Legion, or the charity of one’s choice.