Rosario J. Vea's Obituary
Rosario Justo Vea passed away on Sunday, August 20, 2023 after a 10 month battle with gall bladder cancer. Rose was born in Bangui, Ilocos Norte, Philippines, on September 4, 1941. After graduating high school, Rose attended midwifery school at the Santa Teresita School of Midwifery in Quezon City, Philippines, where she was named "Miss Midwifery" and graduated in 1965.
Rose moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1966, where she practiced briefly as a midwife ("Too much blood!" she would say). In Honolulu, she got engaged and married her husband, Pedro Vea, Jr., also from Bangui, in 1967. That same year, she moved with her husband to Lakewood, Washington, where he took a job as a machinist with Boeing. Rose became a Certified Nurses Assistant, working at Lakewood General Hospital and later at a ManorCare nursing home, where she worked for nearly 30 years. Whether with patients at work or family and friends at home, Rose loved taking care of people. It was physically impossible to enter her home without being fed!
Rose and Pedro raised a family of three children in Lakewood, and remained lifelong residents. Rose is survived by her daughter Arlene (John) Mullinax and their children Julianna and Josh, sons Myron (Stephanie) Vea and Ken Vea and his children Aidan and Kai, and sisters Cenie (Franklin, deceased) Vives, Cecile (Nick) Uypitching, and Rosita (Joaquin) Guzon, as well as many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Pedro ("Junior"), parents Alfredo and Maria, and eldest sister Adelina.
An intimate graveside service is planned for September 5, 2023, at Mountain View Funeral Home and Cemetery, 4100 Steilacoom Blvd SW in Lakewood, at 1:30pm.
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