Former Rockville Centre resident dies at age 80

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Former Rockville Centre resident Marita Garsia Cosby, 80, of Hampstead, Md., died on Dec. 13, 2011, in Sinai Hospital in Baltimore after a brief illness.

Born in Rockville Centre, Marita graduated from St. Agnes School and went to work for the Shulton Company in Manhattan. In 1953 she married Gerald V. Cosby in St. Agnes Cathedral and settled in Rockville Centre. The couple had three daughters, Virginia, Alice and Julia.

After the death of Marita’s sister-in-law, Betty Garsia, in 1966, Marita and Jerry moved to an enormous home in south Rockville Centre to accommodate the blending of Marita and Jerry’s family, Marita’s brother Don Garsia, his eight children, and their grandmother, Edna Garsia. The years spent living as a family of 15 brought wonderful times, memories and stories still told by family members at every gathering.

Jerry’s career as an aerospace engineer took his family to Southern California in 1977. Their youngest daughter, Julia, was raised in California, and went on to graduate from UCLA.

Marita joined the Los Angeles School District in 1979 as a reading coach and aide for the fourth grade. She found great comfort in her students’ quiet hugs when she returned after the death of Jerry in 1997. She retired after 25 years and stayed on as a volunteer until moving to Maryland in 2006.

Marita is survived by daughters Virginia Gilroy (William), Alice Kolman (David), Julia Cosby Gale (David), six step-grandchildren, three step-great-grandchildren, 12 nieces and nephews, 10 grand nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her nephew Steve Geist, and was survived by her constant companion of 13 years, her cocker spaniel, Mikey, who died in April.

A funeral Mass will be held on June 1 at 11 a.m. at St. Agnes Cathedral. Burial will follow at Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury. The family is receiving friends at the church prior to the Mass.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in memory of Marita Cosby be made to either of her favorite charities, the North Shore Animal League, 25 Davis Ave., Port Washington, NY 11050, www.animalleague.org or the Paralyzed Veterans of America, 801 Eighteenth St. NW, Washington, DC 20006, www.pva.org.