Stella Rossi, 100, of Cold Spring and Fishkill, died June 12 with her daughter by her side. Her family had gathered in March to celebrate her birthday.
She was born March 30, 1925, in Pikeville, Tennessee, the daughter of Addie and Henry Grimes. She left Tennessee in 1952 to join the U.S. Air Force as an X-ray technician and was stationed at Mitchel Air Force Base on Long Island. There she met Jerome Thomas Rossi, and they were married on June 24, 1956, and eventually made Cold Spring their home.
Stella was a member of the Butterfield Library Quilting Guild and a Girl Scout leader, and volunteered with the Butterfield Hospital Auxiliary, the Lunch Box meal program and the Nazareth House. She was a fabulous cook and enjoyed sewing, quilting and crocheting. She never missed her weekly hair appointment and didn’t leave the house without a spritz of Shalimar perfume. Her greatest joy in life was being a grandmother to her four grandchildren, who she bragged about daily.
She is survived by her daughter, Catherine Platt (Joseph) of Cold Spring; and her grandchildren, Tyler Brownell (Madeline) of London, Justin Brownell of Fishkill, Andrew Platt of Tampa and Abigail Platt of Chicago. Her husband, Jerome, died in 1991 and her daughter, Nancy Brownell, in 2024. Her siblings, Ruth Raymer, Illa Adams, Hattie Hinson, Frances Patterson, Paul Grimes and Willie Grimes, died earlier.
A funeral service was held June 28 at the Fishkill United Methodist Church, followed by interment at Cold Spring Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the Jerome and Stella Rossi Family Fund at the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley (communityfoundationshv.org).
