Today I have a special profile, of my mother.
We — my mother and sister Rachel and I, as well as our respective families — are all here today because of a pilot’s watch.
I’ll get to that story in a bit.
I decided to profile local resident Rosemarie Siegel — stylish and purposeful woman about town, preparer of Peking duck for Christmas dinner for 50+ years, daily swimmer at Simon’s Rock, fan of all things Japanese, chauffeur of grandchildren, flower-arranger and liturgist for St. James Church in Chatham, serious student of history, my mother — because I’ve lost count of the number of women who, upon learning that I am her daughter, say something like, “I want to be just like her.”
Mom’s parents — Peter Duffy and Mary Clerkin Duffy — were from County Monaghan, Ireland. My grandfather became a New York City taxi driver, and my grandmother raised three daughters.
Rosemarie was the first in her family to go to college. She met my father, David Siegel, when they w…
