Cow Hill Yacht Club lost its most devoted volunteer on March 1, 2019. Rosemarie Turewicz, a longtime resident of the Saugatuck-Douglas area, died peacefully of a much-used, worn-out heart just four months shy of her 94th birthday.
She is survived by her cousin Theodore Lipkowski, a retired engineer, and his two children Nicholas and Kristin, plus his grandchild Harlon Lipkowski.
Born in Poland on July 5, 1925, she was the daughter of Walter and Eugenia Zolynski, who owned a popular bakery there but fled from their war-torn country to begin a new life in the United States.
Rosemarie was educated at Tuley High School in Chicago. She went on to develop a highly successful management career in retail sales with Neiman Marcus in Chicago; finally opening her own women’s clothing boutique in the northern suburbs.
She married her musician husband, Kajo Turewicz in the late 1960s, and together they opened “Restaurant Turewicz” located at 1643 North Milwaukee Avenue. It was considered Chicago’s most elegant Polish restaurant, according to food critics and the Chicago Tribune who dubbed it, “The top Polish cuisine this side of Warsaw.” Turewicz was also named one of the top 10 restaurants in Chicago during its era and was featured in the prestigious hardback collection of Time Life cookbooks.
In the early 1980s, following the death of her husband, Rosemarie migrated to the Saugatuck-Douglas area where she opened several unique antique shops including Handled With Care and Everlastings, both located in Saugatuck.
She retired in 2007 and traveled to Scandinavia to reunite with her long lost photographer stepson (now deceased). She then visited London, Spain, Tunisia, Greece, Turkey, and Poland.
Rosemarie was a master cook in the kitchen, but she never sugarcoated anything…just ask her friends. She was headstrong and determined right up to the end of her journey here on earth. Her feistiness served her well throughout her life.
As an antique aficionado, she loved her “first generation” iPad and her “first generation” Apple iBook. They kept her connected with everyone as long as she didn’t have to update, download, cut & paste, highlight, attach, delete, forward, or respond all. She could never be convinced to stop randomly punching every key on the keyboard to resolve a technical problem, but she quickly learned on her own not to use white-out on the computer screen.
She graduated to texting on her iPhone at the age of 93—sort of. She hated auto-correct and blamed every garbled message on Comcast. You may read this and recall a text from her that maybe made you say “huh?”
By the way, how did she get on Facebook?
She loved cooking, entertaining guests, being self-sufficient, outsmarting squirrels, reading books, Chinese buffets, driving a shopping cart like a bat out of hell, and (oh yes!) her nightly vodka with lemon.
Her larger than life persona will be etched in the memories of her friends, family, strays, and legions of people who passed through her life. All who remember her are asked to celebrate her in their own way. Raising a glass of polish vodka in her memory would be an appropriate gesture.
With the deepest gratitude she was lovingly cared for by neighbors, friends and the compassionate staff at Medilodge Holland and Hospice of Holland during the final month of her life.
In lieu of a service, a private celebration of life will be held close to her birthday in July 2019.
Those wishing to honor Rosemarie are requested to make a donation to Hospice of Holland, Michigan or Cow Hill Yacht Club in Saugatuck-Douglas.
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