Rosella M Blackington

Rosella M. Blackington, 95, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, passed away peacefully on January 2, 2024 from natural causes. Rosella was born in Scituate, Massachusetts to August and Marie Schatz of Marshfield. She is predeceased by her beloved brother, Ernest Schatz, and her beloved sisters, Arline Roy and Kathrine Clement. She grew up in Marshfield where she is said to have walked up and down every road, climbed and fallen out of every tree and babysat most of the children of the town at the time. She enjoyed music, singing in choirs, and playing the piano, particularly for the Christian Endeavor group at the First Congregational Church of Marshfield. As she grew up, she assisted her mother with the family cabins, served lunches at the local drug store, worked at Feinberg’s Store, and was offered a summer job as a teenager at John Hancock. She starred on, and was a much-feared player of, the Marshfield school field hockey team, and graduated as valedictorian from Marshfield High School. She then proceeded to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics from Framingham State College and a Master of Science degree in Home Economics from Simmons College. She is predeceased by her husband, Frank H. Blackington, whom she married in Marshfield on June 23, 1956.

After graduating from college, she worked as a teacher in Tewksbury, Lexington, and Hingham, Massachusetts. She also worked with the New England Dairy Council before accompanying Frank to Michigan State University, where they spent the next sixteen years. While in Michigan, Rosella volunteered at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing and was a member of the Gourmet Club. She loved and was extremely knowledgeable about all sorts of fabrics, sewing clothes, curtains and more. She also enjoyed interior design and was a fabulous cook. In the early 1970s, Frank and Rosella moved to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where Frank served as a college president and Rosella directed the activities of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Women’s Association. After retiring, Frank and Rosella moved back to the South Shore, settled in Duxbury and became members of the Pilgrim Church of Duxbury. Her hobbies included gardening, golfing, sewing, cooking and following current events. She loved animals and her pets. Almost until her end of life, she enjoyed being outdoors, where she could be seen tending her yard either planting, clipping her bushes, raking or pulling an annoying mushroom out of the yard. She enjoyed the outdoors so much, she was known to ignore heat, a certain degree of rain, dusk, ticks, the possibility of coyotes and almost always, calls to dinner. If she saw neighbors walking by where she could have a short chat, she enjoyed it even more – especially if they were with their dogs. She kept her sense of humor to the end.

Rosella and Frank are survived by their children, Deborah M. Blackington of Duxbury and Bradley A. Blackington and his wife Stephanie of Carmel, Indiana. She is also survived by four grandchildren, Courtney, Brynne, Tyler, and Grace and many nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, please donate to your local Humane Society.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, February 17 at 10 a.m. in her childhood church: First Congregational Church of Marshfield, 1981 Ocean St., Marshfield to which, with her family, she would walk. People are welcome to meet with the family before the service at 9:30 a.m.