Throughout the next few weeks OLMC is publishing profiles of each of our Hall of Fame Inductees, we hope you enjoy these personal portraits of alumni, parishioners and Academy families and we especially hope to see you at the gala event, November 30, 2018. Tickets can be purchased at the Narthex Office after the 10AM Mass or in the Church and Academy offices during the week!
How Rosemary Russell ended up in the back of a bumpy Peruvian taxi is a story that really begins decades ago…
Growing up in Bergenfield, Rosemary was a proud product of Catholic education for most of her life having graduated from St. John the Evangelist Grammar School, Mother Cabrini High School in New York City, and then the University of Notre Dame.
The example of faith started in the home. “We had our Sunday routine,” Rosemary begins. “My father had his prayer life – it was quieter.” It was her father’s quiet “yes” to a life of faith that has guided Rosemary. After school Rosemary found herself in New York’s famed West Village and she was drawn to the Catholic community of St. Joseph’s near Washington Square Park. It was in New York she became friends with Jeff Russell. The two fell in love and were married in 1989.
Rosemary’s career was varied and vital. She worked in publishing and public relations and earned her M.B.A. in finance from New York University while working for Merrill Lynch.
Rosemary Russell
Jeff and Rosemary moved to Englewood in 1991. Caroline was born that April, with Julia following in 1992, and Ben completing the family in 1995. When it was time for Caroline to start school, Rosemary enrolled her at First Presbyterian Cooperative Pre-School in Englewood. Rosemary, being Rosemary, said yes to helping with varied volunteer needs. Eventually, she became chair of the parent board and under her leadership the school became nationally accredited. As her children grew, so did the community.
At Elisabeth Morrow, what began as a simple agreement to run a gala event for her children’s school, developed into an adept, thirteen-year run as a member of the Elisabeth Morrow board, five years as chair and a current trustee emeritus. She currently sits on the board of the Elisabeth Reeve Morrow Morgan Foundation.
There seems to be a pattern: Rosemary’s quiet yes translates into big things. Her thoughtful leadership and her skill at working at the board level has seen success for the other organizations that have benefited from her board work, as part of the strategic committee of the Junior League and a former board member of the Volunteer Center of Bergen County.
Like her father’s example, she keeps thinking about what having a faith in the home is and how it translates into our larger worlds. “I got to OLMC simply because my parents moved to Tenafly and I ended up at OLMC,” she says. “I couldn’t tell you how—it just happened.” Caroline and Julia started religious education classes at Mount Carmel and Rosemary became a catechist. Her son, Ben, became even more involved in the parish and became an active member of the youth ministry program. Rosemary attended the Women’s Cornerstone Retreat and felt an even stronger connection to OLMC.
“I started going to daily mass. I need the sanity, the faith endorphins,” she says. “I began to really appreciate how everything at OLMC is done thoughtfully, to make the parish better. It reminds me of St. Joseph in the Village. The church is simple and unassuming, but the community is powerful.”
In 2015 the parish undertook the successful and massive Living Stones capital campaign. It was her work with others that saw the success of that campaign which has underwritten some of OLMC’s most recent projects—renovating both parking lots, improving facilities and underwriting our first Medical Mission trip.
Back to that taxi in a dusty region of Peru…At Fr. Dan’s invitation, Rosemary accepted the chair position of the Medical Mission trip. The enormous two-year endeavor involved countless hours of travel, international meetings, difficult setbacks, small mercies and thankless victories.
Yet, having accomplished so much, Rosemary looks toward to the future. “As Tenafly changes,” she notes with pride, “OLMC has become so much more diverse.” The board member with ideas is still looking forward, seeing OLMC as not only a single place, but as a community. “OLMC is so good at accepting and welcoming the stranger, not just the new person, but interesting people with different experiences. No one person’s faith is the same, but we’re a place where whatever your approach to fulfilling it—you can find it here.”
We’re so happy you can still find Rosemary here—in her daily Mass pew with her passion, enthusiasm and good humor— always quietly saying yes.
The Carmelite Star Award will be presented to Ms. Rosemary Russell, Chair of the Medical Mission Team. The Carmelite Star Award is a symbol of our grateful recognition to those who have an enduring commitment to our Carmelite mission, namely to lead an active contemplative life in service to Christ and His Church. Named after the three stars in the Carmelite seal, the Award represents, as do the stars, following the call of the prophet Elijah to serve the people of God.