Rosalie Braxton

February 14, 1925 – February 23, 2022. Rosalie was born on February 14, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York to Polish immigrant Dymeter Jacewicz and Rose Mary Neugebauer, daughter of German and Polish immigrants. Rosalie spent her early childhood in Brooklyn before moving to the Bronx. She often recalled her childhood growing up in New York City where she would skip school and take the Subway to spend the day ice skating at Rockefeller Center or sneak into jazz clubs to get a glimpse of Frank Sinatra.

Rosalie was attending a USO sponsored dance for locally stationed Navy service members when she met and fell in love with Talmadge Braxton. They married on April 16, 1943 at the beautiful St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. Soon after they married, they moved to Talmadge’s hometown, the small town of Snow Camp, North Carolina. He moved his bold, hard-nosed, Catholic wife from New York City to a Quaker town without electricity and running water.

The newlyweds settled into the very home Talmadge was born in on Greenhill Road; their son Michael would soon be born in the same house. They later moved to Graham and then Burlington before settling back into Snow Camp, in a house across the street from where they once lived on Greenhill Road, only this time they had water and electricity.

Rosalie, or “GG” as her great grandchildren lovingly called her, loved New York, the Tar Heels, Christmas, and Hawaii. She will be remembered for her signature scent, her trademark enormous round glasses, and her New York attitude that she couldn’t shake, even after 70 years in the south.

Rosalie is survived by her son, Thomas “Mike” Michael Braxton; her grandchildren, Thomas “Tommy” Michael Braxton Jr. (Julie) and Shannon Meserole (Danny); her great grandchildren, Hillary Purdee (Brannen), Summer Meserole, Grant Meserole, and Emma Jayne Braxton; as well as her great great grandchildren, Braxton and Bowen Purdee. She is preceded in death by her husband, Talmadge Hiram Braxton.