View full sizeA sign welcoming Rosemary DeGesero "home" was posted on her house at 633 S. Washington in Saginaw after she died at the age of 92 on Saturday, May 5, 2012.SAGINAW, MI
— Rosemary DeGesero lived her life in the spotlight, says her daughter, Roxanne DeGesero of Houston.
Whether while walking her pet leopard Chichu along South Washington in Saginaw or acting under hot stage lights at Pit and Balcony Theater, eyes and attention were drawn toward her, Rosemary DeGesero's daughter said.
And it is fitting, she says, that the celestial spotlight of a "super moon" shown down on the night her mother died.
"There goes Rosemary, out with a big moon," she said.
Born on March 6, 1920, DeGesero died Saturday night at 92.
On the front door of the DeGesero family's long-time home at 633 S. Washington at the intersection of Hoyt, flanked by stone lion heads preserved from the former Saginaw Courier- Herald building prior to its demolition in 1960, is a is a yellow sign below a wreath that reads: "Welcome home Rosemary, R.I.P."
The family's initial plans are to cremate DeGesero and conduct a memorial service at Holy Family Catholic Church in Saginaw sometime in August.
Rosemary DeGesero's former house is at the center of a preservation effort led by historian Thomas Mudd and resident Natalie Davis, who hope to preserve and restore the 1874-constructed home.
Rosemary DeGesero moved from her home in Saginaw several years ago to live with her daughter in New Jersey and had been in the care of Hospice prior to her death.
View full sizeA sign welcoming Rosemary DeGesero "home" was posted on her house at 633 S. Washington in Saginaw after she died at the age of 92 on Saturday, May 5, 2012.Mudd and Davis plan to speak at the Saginaw City Council meeting Monday to urge city officials to preserve the home where DeGesero and her family lived.
Davis initiated a petition drive in an effort to try and
save the home. Three-hundred-and-seventy people had signed the online petition
as of Monday, and also launched a Facebook page.
"She was very happy that we were making some kind of an effort to save her home," Mudd said, referring to a phone conversation he had with Rosemary DeGesero last week.
Mudd said her voice sounded "youthful" and "vivacious" and she told him she was "coming back home" at the conclusion of the conversation.
This may be part of her strategy to win the city's support for preservation of her house house by passing just before the issues comes before on City Council, Mudd said.
View full sizeRosemary DeGeseroDeGesero's father, Dr. Michael Ryan, one of the first resident doctors at St. Mary's of Michigan hospital, purchased the house from the original owner, lumber baron Charles Lee, at the turn of the century.
Rosemary DeGesero's husband, Roy, an attorney, died in 1984. Together they raised eight children in the house.
For decades Rosemary acted in plays at Pit and Balcony Theater.
She had a life-long infatuation with cats, which earned her the title of "The Cat Lady" from some, and a desire to join the circus that continued well into her adult life, said Roxanne DeGesero.
She kept a 3-foot-tall pet leopard named Chichu and often walked it along South Washington.
Although there are discrepancies about how many were in inside the home — Saginaw code enforcers cited about 100 and Roxanne DeGesero said it was closer to 30 — officials required the removal of a large number of cats from the home for health reasons in 2004.
The 3,829-square-foot home remained in the DeGesero family for a century until the city purchased it for $19,900 last September and had planned to demolish it.
City Developer Odail Thorns estimates renovations could cost as much as $700,000.
Roxanne DeGesero has spoken to Mudd multiple times in the last week and she said she agrees that the historical significance of the home is important to Saginaw, although some of her siblings are unhappy about the recent attention the family's home has garnered.
"History is important," Roxanne DeGesero said, "but none of us are involved in the spotlight.
"She wanted that and she got it, whether or not it was good or bad."
Related:
DeGesero pleased with preservation effort
Renovations could cost $700,000
Movement to save DeGesero home
City buys DeGesero home
Rosemary's 3-foot-tall leopard