Rosemary (Hugo) Fielding

Rosemary (Hugo) Fielding, wife of the late David Fielding, mother of beloved daughter, Helen Rose Fielding, died suddenly on Monday, Feb. 16, one day before her 71st birthday. Her beloved husband, David Fielding, died in Aug. 2024, a loss that left a deep void in Rosemary’s life.

Rosemary was the fifth child of her parents, Dr. Lawrence R. Hugo and Ruth Anne (Skeehan) Hugo. She is survived by her sister, Dr. Maryanne Hugo and her brothers, John and Michael Hugo. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents and by her third brother, Lawrence R. Hugo III, who died in 2015.

Rosemary received a B.A. in English from Duquesne University, an M.A.T. from the University of Pittsburgh, and taught English and writing to middle and high school students at Greater Works Academy in Monroeville.

For the past 30 years, Rosemary’s passion centered on being a loving wife and a devoted mother. Rosemary gave her undivided attention to homeschooling Helen through high school. A highly-intelligent woman, she was also a lifelong master writer and editor, contributing major essays to several Catholic periodicals and a book. Rosemary has been a writer since she was eight, and was a reporter for the McKeesport Daily News while living with her parents in North Huntingdon. She later described this as one of the most enjoyable times in her life.

She was most recently employed as a freelance reporter at The Derrick and the editor of its “Church News” page.

Following in the footsteps of her mother, she was also a homemaker, a skilled seamstress, grew and canned her own fruits and vegetables, and made her own bread and yogurt.

Rosemary traveled in her younger years, beginning with a year in Afghanistan just before the Soviet Union invaded in 1989. She also spent some time in India, and she taught English in Venezuela for two years, where she learned Spanish.

Rosemary’s faith and practice as a Roman Catholic defined everything she did in her life, especially after she attended the eight-day silent retreat, “Encounter With Silence,” led by her uncle, Father John Hugo. She was a voracious reader of Catholic literature, especially the lives of the saints, and of Father Hugo’s books on the importance of peace.

When she met and married her husband David, an English writer of Catholic magazines for children and an artist and illustrator, the two of them spent the rest of their lives focused on creating and publishing literature for Catholic families. They also worked to copy edit and republish Fr. Hugo’s books, for which Rosemary wrote forewords. They were devoted to spreading the Gospel through their work.

Rosemary will be dearly missed by her daughter and by her family and friends.

Friends and family will be received from 3 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, at Reinsel Funeral Home, 116 Bissell Avenue, Oil City, PA, 16301.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Friday at St. Patrick Church in Franklin, with the Rev. Daniel Hoffman presiding.

Interment will follow at a private cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth or the Little Sisters of the Poor.

Condolences may be sent at www.reinselfuneralhome.com.

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