Rose Daley touched many with her cards

If you knew Rosa "Rose" Daley, you likely had received more than one greeting card from her over the years. Even if you didn't know the Hagerstown woman who passed away at the age of 95 on March 3, you may have gotten a card from her in the mail.

“My mom always made sure family and friends had cards on their special occasions or when they were sick,” said daughter Peggy Kershner. “But she also reached out to people all around the community.

“If she saw something in the newspaper of something special happening with people and there was an address, my mother would go ahead and get a card ready. She didn't even know them.”

Touching others' lives was the hallmark of the card ministry Daley carried out for more than 50 years. Kershner said her mother started the outreach as an extension of her Christian life.

“She told me she wanted to do something for the Lord that she could work and do things at home,” her daughter explained. “She wanted to do something to reach out to people.

“She said there's a lot of people who don't get attention. They don't get cards and know someone is thinking about them. Mom said she asked the Lord to give her a ministry and he gave her the card ministry to start.”

A longtime member of Pleasant Hill United Brethren Church in Coseytown, Pa., Daley was also very active there, including teaching Sunday school. Cards weren't the only service she provided. If someone missed a service, she picked up a bulletin and put it in the mail.

“People have been mentioning how my mother touched their lives,” Kershner related. “She was a very giving woman, even though she never had a whole lot. Mom would give anything to help somebody, if she knew someone was in need.

“She was quite a good example of a good neighbor and also a caring woman.”

Daley also had a day job, completing 42 and a half years working at the Hagerstown Shoe Co. That's where she met Charlie Daley. The pair would have celebrated 77 years of marriage in June.

“My dad misses Mom,” said Kershner. “Even though he has dementia, he mentions Mom. They were very close. She was in a hospital bed toward the end, and he would talk to her and tell her he loved her.”

Daley's dedicated longevity to her husband, her ministry and her church are evident. She also desired to make an impact on the future.

“Mom wanted to be a good example to the young people,” Kershner related. “Mom was brought up in a family where she had to quit school at a very young age. She wasn't able to have the education she would have liked to have had.

“She always wanted a diploma. The good Lord saw that she was able to do that. She studied, worked at it, and she made it. She got her diploma, and she was so happy.”

Reading was a passion for Daley, who faithfully completed the Bible twice each year. She also enjoyed faith-based books.

As part of her card ministry, Daley kept a copious notebook of dates and her mailings. Kershner said in one July alone her mother sent 31 birthday cards, 14 anniversary cards, eight get-well cards and one sympathy card. And each card was special for Daley.

“When my mother did cards, she didn't just sign her name,” Kershner said. “She would write and you would have to sometimes turn the card to read it. So many people said, it just cheered us up when we would get something from her because she wrote in every card. She didn't just sign her name. She wrote a personal note to that person.”

Daley's notebook was a treasure trove for ages of her card recipients, something she didn't think anyone should mind.

Kershner said, “She would just say, 'God's been good to them. They're still with us.'”

While Daley may not be still with us, her cards will likely stand the test of time.

Each Sunday, The Herald-Mail runs “A Life Remembered.” Each story in this continuing series takes a look back — through the eyes of family, friends, co-workers and others — at a member of the community who died recently. Today’s “A Life Remembered” is about Rose Daley, who died on March 3 at the age of 95. Her obituary appeared in The Herald-Mail on March 5.