All her life, Rosemarie Marasco has been a nurturer. 

From hospital patients and cats to her garden and her nieces and nephews, Rosemarie was always one to be taking care of something. 

Now, she’s found a community where she can be the one taken care of. And instead of tending to her people, plants and property, she can focus on spending time with her cats, making friends, and enjoying the beautiful landscaping — which someone else worked on. 

For decades, Rosemarie’s main focus was her patients. 

An experienced, high-level nurse, Rosemarie spent the vast majority of her career in healthcare. As a child, she had an older cousin who was a nurse. And seeing her work inspired Rosemarie to follow a similar path.

“When we would go visit her, I always admired what she did,” Rosemarie said. 

After earning her master’s degree, Rosemarie’s career took her to a variety of different roles. But what she loved most was assisting in surgeries, particularly surgeries involving children, which are the moments that stick with her most. For her, there was nothing as incredible and exhilarating as an open-heart surgery on a baby. 

“You stand there across from this doctor who’s trying to repair a little infant’s heart,” she remembers. “I thought it was amazing that I could help them do that.” 

Rosemarie married her husband, Joseph, at 42. The pair lived in Buffalo, New York but traveled Europe and across the United States, spent time with their nieces and nephews and loved their cats. At home, Rosemarie was passionate about her garden and loved to spend time out in nature. 

Her love of nursing led her to continue working into her 70s at family practices and other non-hospital settings, maintaining the connection to the career she was passionate about. 

After Joseph passed away in 2012, Rosemarie moved back to the Dayton area, where she could be closer to home and to her sister in Western Pennsylvania. But after living nearly a decade on her own, Rosemarie decided it was time to consider a move. 

“I had the yard to take care of, I had all kinds of stuff to do,” she said. “I said, ‘Jeepers, you’re not getting anything done except cutting the grass and taking care of flowers. Maybe it would be nice to live somewhere that would be nice to live, but would be less work. You’re getting too old to do all this stuff.’” 

Although she was wary about parting with her plants at home, Rosemarie toured 10 Wilmington Place’s historic grounds full of gorgeous plants and impeccable landscaping, and decided she had found a home.

Now a 10 Wilmington Place resident for about a year, Rosemarie has settled into an active, fulfilling life that doesn’t include her taking care of the entire place. 

She’s made plenty of friends in the community, and loves to work outside whenever she can. The trees and flowers around the grounds remind her of her garden at home, and she’s active in the 10 Wilmington Place garden club. She loves taking long walks and spending time with her two cats, Katie and John. 

Perhaps most importantly, she doesn’t have to feel obligated to take care of anyone anymore — other than her cats, of course. 

“I don’t have to worry about what’s going to be for supper tomorrow or what’s going on,” she said. “I just have to go over there and eat it.” 

And between bingo, exercise classes and the friends she’s made, retirement hasn’t come with a dull moment. 

As Rosemarie reflects on her life — from saving lives in the operating room to tending her beloved garden — she feels grateful for the opportunity to embrace a new chapter. At 10 Wilmington Place, she has discovered the perfect balance: staying active, enjoying nature, and finding joy in companionship without the weight of responsibility. Surrounded by beauty, friends, and, of course, her two cats, Rosemarie has found her place to simply be.