Rosemary Weiss honored with benches on Fairfield Loop Trail

FAIRFIELD – Rosemary Weiss was a special education teacher in the Fairfield school district for 17 years, and left her mark on countless students.

She passed away in January from kidney failure, leaving behind her husband Terry and their son Thomas. In lieu of flowers, the family asked friends to donate toward a memorial for Rosemary, which garnered $3,400. Rosemary loved walking along the Fairfield Loop Trail, so Terry thought that a fitting tribute to her would be to use the memorial money for two benches on the trail. One of them is near North Campus Village by the B Street entrance, and the other is in Jefferson County Park.

The benches are inscribed with the words “Rosemary Collins Weiss, 1956-2025 …. Sharing the love.” After paying for the benches, there was still $1,100 left in the memorial fund, so the family decided to donate that money to The Lord’s Cupboard.

“A lot of people in the community know her, including kids who have some challenges, and some of those challenges are financial,” Terry said. “They may be the ones using The Lord’s Cupboard, so this was a way to do something for the community and for the students she had.”

Terry and Rosemary were married over 36 years, and met at the Transcendental Meditation Center in Orange County, California. Rosemary moved to Fairfield in 1981 and taught at Maharishi School for three years. Later, she went to work for the Fairfield Community School District as a special education teacher, first at Lincoln and then at Pence.

“She really knitted the community together in a way,” Terry said. “Everyone loved her. She was an amazing person. People who spent just one afternoon with her remember her for the rest of their life.”

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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