"O SON OF THE SUPREME!

I have made death a messenger of joy to thee. Wherefore dost thou grieve? I made the light to shed on thee its splendor. Why dost thou veil thyself therefrom?" The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah , Founder of the Baha'i Faith[GCC(1] .

Rosanne Walsh, age 77, of Silver Spring, MD, passed to the spiritual world on November 16, 2023. Her Baha'i burial service took place at Parklawn Cemetery, November 19, 2023. She was preceded in death by her parents, and by her beloved cousin, Sharon Wyda Collison (July 2020.) Rosanne was born July 30, 1946 in Baltimore, the only child of John and Margaret (O'Hara) Walsh and graduated from Seton High School in 1965. She was married to her high school sweetheart, Allan Beckhardt, from 1966 to 1972.  She moved to the Silver Spring area in 1979 and worked in an apartment building as an assistant manager. There she met Felix Aceves Cortes and was married to him from 1986 to 1993. She greatly enjoyed their visits to Mexico and meeting with his family.  She embarked on an entirely new career at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2003 and retired in 2014. During her eleven years there, she worked in an accounting position, handling space craft documents with great precision. Her hobbies included historic costume, and she once assisted in research for a PBS history program. Other interests were in naturopathic and herbal medicine, spiritual teachings, psychology, antiques, history, and animals. She especially loved cats and was also enthusiastic about the MARA elephant charity.

She joined the Baha'i faith in 1980, in Takoma Park, MD, and for years was a member of the Takoma Park Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA) and made new friends there especially Rafieh and Shakib Ahmadi.  She was always devoted to the faith and a high point of her life was her Baha'i Pilgrimage to Haifa, Israel in 1988, where she was able to visit the holy shrines, and walk in the beautiful gardens. She often spoke of the feeling of deep peace she felt there.

Rosanne was among the kindest and most sensitive of people. Rosanne will be greatly missed by friends and family, including Mary Charlotte Gavin, Nancy Rankin, Marie, William and Marcus Geiger, Barbara Giles, Felix Cortes, David Smith, Patty Barzyck, Brook and Ricky Collison,  Annette and Joe Corrado, and the Baha'is of Montgomery County Central, including Jenise Bobo, Rebecca Ellison, Sharaban Abdu'l Nabi, and many other friends.

[GCC(1]