(working draft, will be further revised)
Rosanne DiMaggio passed peacefully from this life on March 15, 2026,
while residing in Fort Collins, Colorado where she lived near her
daughter since 2016. Rosanne was California born and raised - from
Arcadia in Southern California, to Santa Rosa where she lived most of
her youth and attended junior college, to Washington State and UC
Berkeley as a music major (piano and voice), to the San Francisco Bay
Area and nearby cities where she raised her own family, then later
moving to Dunsmuir, CA, in Shasta County. In the 1970s, Rosanne went
back to school for graphic design and was employed with the Oakland
City Planning Department from then until she moved to Dunsmuir, and
long before CAD was common, where she meticulously and beautifully
mapped everything by hand and masterfully also handled their graphics
and artwork. In the 1980s, she and her new best friend and companion,
Ray Berry, camped and explored the California coast and mountains for a
couple of years when they fell in love with Dunsmuir, a little mountain
railroad town near the the foot of Mount Shasta.
About a decade after becoming an empty nester, she and Ray relocated to
the mountains they loved so dearly. Rosanne purchased an early 1900s
home in Dunsmuir close to the Sacramento River which she turned into a
Bed & Breakfast, "Clementine's", named after the folk song. She ran
"the inn" as we all affectionately called it for many years. Following
that, she generally stayed in the region, ranging from Weed, CA near
Lake Shastina, to Chico, CA, and including having lived in three
distinct locations in Dunsmuir, until she was last in Dunsmuir in 2016
when she suffered a stroke and soon thereafter moved to Colorado near
her daughter. In her many years before she phased into retirement and
her later stroke, she also did quite a variety of other mostly
independent entrepreneurial work, and sometimes concurrent with her
other work. E.g. paralegal, cooking, selling commissioned drawings of
houses - among quite a variety of work she did over the years. As an
artist and music major, she watercolored lots in her later pre-stroke
years/decade(s). She commonly had music playing, anywhere from
classical and folk to Queen to musical bells and Native American
instrumentals and chants. She enjoyed cards and games, wildlife,
birdwatching, movies, art and nature, and loved her pets. And, of
course, the mountains. But who she was made her the most special - full
of whimsy, kind, content, giving, joyful, a gentle spirit always
willing to listen, a wonderful hostess cooking tasty meals and
accommodating family, friends, and guests, was resourceful,
non-materialistic, spiritual, and never complained or asked for
anything. She will forever be missed and adored.
Rosanne DiMaggio (by second marriage and thereafter, Rosanna Paoli by
first marriage, maiden name and by birth Rosanna Carlson) is survived
by her son, Michael Paoli, daughter, Julie Kiernan, and three
granddaughters, McKaila, Madisen and Emma Kiernan.
son:
Michael Paoli
Michael.Paoli@berkeley.edu (please include "Rosanne DiMaggio" in Subject: header)
+1-510-705-2606
mailing address (USPS, generally not for other shipment means):
PO Box 11463
Berkeley, CA 94712-2436
USA
daughter:
Julie Kiernan
underneatharms@gmail.com (please include "Rosanne DiMaggio" in Subject: header)
+1-970-889-9091