Elizabeth Fay (Blakeslee) Rossley

FALMOUTH/SHREWSBURY – Fay (Blakeslee) Rossley passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 28, 2017 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston after a valiant battle with multiple sclerosis and pancreatic cancer. She was 76. Born in Worcester on August 13, 1940, Fay was the daughter of the late George and Sally (Barnard) Blakeslee.   Raised and educated in Shrewsbury, Fay also graduated from the Bancroft School in Worcester. She attended Hood College and transferred to Clark University in Worcester, where she met and fell in love with her husband, Paul Rossley of Leicester. They married in August, 1962 at the First Congregational Church of Shrewsbury and lived briefly in Chandler, Arizona followed by three years in Finchingfield, Essex, England while Paul served in the United States Air Force. In 1966, they settled in Holden where they raised their two children and resided for the following 36 years. When her children were old enough, Fay went back to school and received her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from Worcester State University. She taught several years at Rice Elementary School in Holden and the last 15 years of her teaching career at the Thomas Prince Elementary School in Princeton, retiring in 1994. After taking early retirements, Fay and Paul devoted their time to helping family members. They often visited their cabin in Rangeley, Maine. Every year in January and February they drove cross country with stops in many states, returning from the most recent trip in March 2017. She was active in the Holden Parent Teacher’s Association and the First Congregational Church of Holden. In 2002, Fay and Paul returned to the Fay’s childhood home in Shrewsbury, where she and Paul spent the following 8 years. They then moved to their Falmouth home overlooking Waquoit Bay and Martha’s Vineyard, which she loved. Fay was generous with positive affirmations and demonstrated by example strength, kindness, compassion, and understanding; she never stopped trying and and refused to give up. Fay was an inspiration and example to her family and the many children she taught in her classroom. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and friend. Fay will be remembered and lovingly missed by her devoted husband of 55 years, Paul R. Rossley; her children, Scott R. Rossley of Lunenburg, and Kim B. Nunnari and her husband, Joseph of Swampscott; and her beloved grandson, Wilson Nunnari.