Rosemarie Mordelia Rinaldo was born in Revere, Massachusetts, on September 25, 1924. She was the daughter of Pietro and Blanche Mordelia. She graduated from Boston City Hospital School of Nursing in 1946 as a Registered Nurse. She was a Cadet Nurse during World War II. The Cadet Nurse program assured the armed forces of nurses as long as the war lasted. She was a nurse assistant to prominent oral surgeon Dr. Walter Guralnick for five years. Rosemarie married Joseph A. Rinaldo, Jr., in 1949 (d. 2010). After he graduated from Harvard Medical School, they moved to Detroit, where they raised their family. In 1990, they retired to San Diego, where they planted and nurtured one of the first home succulent gardens in the area. Rosemarie was the mother of Patrice Cassedy, Barbara Rinaldo, Joseph A. ("Tony") Rinaldo III, Paul Rinaldo, and the late Christine Eve Rinaldo (d. 1978). Rosemarie was the grandmother of Michael Cassedy, Eva Cassedy, Gabriella Rinaldo, Joseph E. Rinaldo, and Elena Voytilla, and the great-grandmother of Liam Cassedy and Isaac Cassedy. Rosemarie researched and wrote an illustrated family history titled, "As We Recall." As a child, Rosemarie performed on the accordion with her father, who made his living as an entertainer. She passed on to her children and grandchildren the gifts of music, visual arts, a love of theatre, and, most of all, family gatherings. In the 1960s, she reestablished the American family's connection with the Italian family that has lived near Genoa since the 1500s. That connection continues today with a new generation of young people visiting Italy and maintaining close contact through social media. Rosemarie read or listened to The New York Times almost every day. Rosemarie died peacefully at home in San Diego on April 18, 2017, surrounded by her loved ones.