Written by Coronado Historical Association Volunteer Karen Scanlan
This article was originally published in the December 2023 Issue of Coronado Magazine. To read this article and more from Coronado Magazine, click the button below.
Coronado villager Lois Rosania is celebrating her 100th year. A delightfully enthusiastic lady who has made the island her home three times since the 1940s, Lois was born and grew up on a farm in Mankato, Minnesota. “I wasn’t a very good farmer,” she admits, “but it was a wonderful life. My grandmother lived with us and it was a happy time with lots of relatives.” On the farm roamed horses, mules, cattle, and pigs. “I was a member of the 4-H Club (a national mentorship program for kids) and my brother and I raised calves and showed them at the county fair.”
It was a cozy way of life in Mankato for this farm girl, “I even attended Mankato College,” Lois says, “and after graduation taught third grade in Mankato. It was the only place I’d ever been until I visited a college friend in Evanston.” But Lois’ world was about to expand when a recruiter visited her hometown noting that the State of California was short on teachers. “My girlfriend and I followed this lead all the way to San Bernardino and on to San Diego. This was in the 1940s.”
And then she met her “Prince Charming,” a handsome U.S. Naval Academy graduate and U.S. Navy submariner, Lt. Hugh J. Rosania. He was attached to the USS Volador (SS-490), which had just come through the Panama Canal. “I met him the second day he was in San Diego,” Lois admits, “I wouldn’t let him meet anybody else. We were married a year later, in 1948, in the chapel at Navy Training Center.” (Incidentally, NTC and Lois commemorate 100 years, both ‘born’ in June 1923.) Lois, with her family, came to Coronado again in 1961, and in 1967. In tow by now were three sons: Tom, Jim, and Rob, each born at different duty stations. “Not much had changed when we returned to Coronado. We had the ferryboats and there was no bridge yet across the bay. We had to get in line early if we crossed, one of the four ferries might break down, so we had to plan ahead. We kind of liked being isolated with just a ferry.”
The Rosania family was living on Coronado when the San Diego-Coronado Bridge was being built. Lois remembers that Governor Ronald Reagan came to town for the opening ceremonies in 1969. “Once the bridge was completed, and then the Shores complex, we’d have to be more careful with more people on the island,” Lois says. “When my boys were in elementary school they came and went as they pleased.”
Naval wives manage any number of shore duties while a husband is at sea. Lois packed up eight times, tending to the needs of her family. She enjoyed teaching while in Hawaii, and once back in Coronado signed up to substitute at Strand Elementary School. Two weeks into the school year she was hired full-time and taught for six years. She spent another 12 years at Central School (called Village Elementary today).
“Teaching is probably my greatest contribution to this town,” Lois says. “I still meet some of my students or parents on the street, or when my husband and I were docents at Hotel del Coronado and Coronado Historical Association. I liked giving tours of the hotel and later of the town.” She had also volunteered at the school’s “Everyone A Reader” program. Lois found a meaningful fellowship, too, at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church as a Sunday school teacher and education superintendent. Ever the teacher!
But today, this centenarian is most enthusiastic about her ‘Walking Buddies,” which began in 1996 with three friends and grew to many, walking together three mornings a week. “We still walk,” Lois says proudly. “It evolved into a social time; these are my dear friends.” “Coronado is a great place to live,” Lois smiles. “From my home, I can walk to town, the library, and the beach. As for my 100 years of wisdom, enjoy life as you go along. And, as you begin working, begin to save money early.”
Lois gazes into her past with a sigh of contentment. Might we tweak William Shakespeare here, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…?” Childhood on a farm, “I never dreamed of living by an ocean!” That haven of youth, educational goals, a loving husband and naval wanderings, the pride of three sons (plus grands n’ greats), teacher, volunteer, traveler, and friend. A grafting that joins one flora to another so that they intertwine, looking to summer’s sweetness. Congratulations, Mrs. Rosania!
More Photos of Lois Rosania:
Island Icons 