Rosalie Maurine Rosso King Ph.D.

Rosalie Maurine Rosso King was born in Tacoma, Washington, May 22, 1938. Died at her home on Mercer Island, Washington, August 29, 2010. Her beloved husband, daughter Paige King, and son Indle King Jr. survive her. She married Indle Gifford King September 10, 1960 at the Presbyterian “Little Church on the Prairie”, Tacoma where she grew up. Hers was a marriage that held a lasting bond for 50 years. She was a strong, compassionate, and loving wife and mother throughout. Rosalie was a renaissance person exhibiting extreme amounts of talent, life style versatility, and most of all the gift of support for others.Rosalie first entered higher education at University of Puget Sound, graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelors degree in Home Economics, went on to get her Masters degree in Education from the Massachusetts State College at Framingham just outside Boston. Finally completing a Doctoral degree in Forestry for the University of Washington. Her Career included teaching nearly 20 years at the University of Washington while serving as Chair of Textile Science and Costume Studies Division. The next 26 years were spent in a senior professorship at Western Washington University. During the WWU tenure she served as Chair of the Department of Art as well as the Home Economics/Interior Design Department. During that time she also served as President of Omicron Nu, a 24 chapter college honorary. Adjunct to that she completed sabbatical studies 2 different years at the Stanford University Design Department. Was a visiting Scholar at the Bauhaus Archives – Berlin, and was a Research Scholar at the Getty Research Institute – Los Angeles. Never in 46 years of teaching did she ever fail at receiving high marks from her students. Beyond teaching, much of her time while at Western Washington University, centered on support of the school during a 5 year assignment to evaluate the Bellingham Waterfront expansion with a goal of it including the building of new university teaching spaces. Rosalie spent long hours traveling the 160 mile round trip each class day between Bellingham and Mercer Island. She looked forward to peace and tranquility of home after a hard days work. Her considerable science background including chemistry, physics, and microbiology allowed a specialization in determining textile material failure including fabric fire, fading and disintegration. She provided expertise textile testing for Northwest Labs in Seattle. During that time she published a book titled Textile Identification, Conservation and Preservation. As a result of that work she was appointed to a three-year term on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, traveling to Washington DC 3 to 4 times per year for investi-gation hearings. Professionally she was requested by various textile manufac-tures in Hong Kong and Korea to visit and evaluate on site quality control procedures. In 2009, as part of her commitment to community service, she accepted being President of the 96 year old Women’s University Club of Seattle. The Women’s University Club was established in 1914. Today the club has over a thousand members, women of many ages, religions, and ethnic backgrounds, representing colleges, universities and professional schools throughout the world. The clubs mission is to promote outstanding educational, cultural and social activities for its members and the community. Observing the generosity of people helping others throughout her career and in conjunction with her interest in public service influenced co- authoring the book titled Volunteers Americas Hidden Resource. Rosalie was a lover of the outdoors and was most proud to have climbed to the top of Mt. Rainier. She also loved to travel and together with her husband spent time in almost every country in Europe. She cherished the time with her children and was Mercer Island elementary school PTA President during their formative days. As an international gourmet follower, she was always entering and winning recipe contests sponsored in the local Mercer Island Reporter and Seattle Post Intelligencer. In support of her community she became a delegate to the Mercer Island sister city program, interacting with the French community of Thonon Au Bain. Her interest in the arts culminated in her becoming chairperson of the Mercer Island Arts Council. Hobbies included textile weaving and abstract art creation. She exhibited work at the university faculty level as well as participating at the local Bellevue Arts fair where she was an award winner on two occasions. A memorial service will be held at the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church, 3605 84th Ave SE, Mercer Island, on Friday, September 10 at 11 a.m. Immediately following will be a celebration of her life, dedication to family, profession, and community will be held at the Women’s University Club of Seattle, 1105 6th Ave., Seattle.

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