Obituary of Rosemary Grant Shannon

Rosemary G. Shannon was a friend to young children and animals and, in her prime, she loved jazz music, cooking, friends, and a dip in the water on sunny days. Shannon, 90, was a homemaker and also had a career as a legal secretary for her husband Larry C. Shannon’s law firm in Olympia. She died July 2, 2014, at Angela’s Adult Family Home, a private home in Tumwater that provides care for those who suffer from dementia and related diseases. Until her illness drew a shrinking circle around her activities, Rosemary displayed a talent for organization and finances. She enjoyed the family’s lakefront home, gardening, swimming, and cooking for guests. Rosemary and Larry were inseparable and made several trips to the warm beaches of Maui. Rosemary was born in Portland, Oregon, to Gilbert and Ina L. (Haapa) Grant on January 17, 1924, and was raised in Aberdeen during the Great Depression. She learned to speak Finnish from her immigrant grandmother, Aina Josephine Haapa, at a tender age; slivers of Finnish words or phrases occasionally crept into her speech years later. In her early years, she knew such hardships as her father’s death in a car wreck and the early death of stepfather, Paul Wirta, whose family ran an Aberdeen hotel where the child and family often took meals. She spent weeks during summers on Puget Sound after her mother and immigrant uncles built a cabin there in the late 1930s. After graduating from Weatherwax High School in 1942, Rosemary worked at an Aberdeen music store where she began her collection of jazz records. After the war, she moved to Seattle where she helped her former classmate and future husband through law school. The couple married in 1948 and later moved to Olympia. Together the couple raised two sons. During her homemaker years, she volunteered with a women’s auxiliary at the old Saint Peter Hospital and the Humane Society of Thurston County. In the early 1980s, Rosemary visited Finland, where the Haapaniemi family still has a farm. Rosemary Shannon is survived by her eldest son, Brad Shannon and his wife, Virginia Painter Shannon, both of Olympia; grandson, Jonah M. Shannon of Olympia; sister-in-law, Dorothy Shannon of Bellevue; and a former daughter-in-law, Francie R. Murry of Greeley, Colorado. She also is survived by her loving caregiver and friend, Magda Fartais of Tumwater. Younger son, Kevin S. Shannon, died in an accident in 2003. Larry died in 2010 after a long illness. Memorial donations may be made to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund or Thurston County Humane Society. The family will have a committal ceremony at Masonic Memorial Gardens in Tumwater, where Rosemary will be interred with the ashes of Larry and near those of Kevin. The morning wind spreads its fresh smell We must get up and take that in That wind that lets us live Breathe before it’s gone – Rumi Please leave memories of Rosemary or condolences for her family in the Guestbook below.