Birth Date: 05/19/1943
Deceased Date: 03/06/2021
Rose (Lastella) Stites, age 77, died on March 6, 2021 at her home in Smithfield, NC. Rose was born in Leominster, MA, May 19, 1943, the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Esposito) Lastella. She was preceded in death by her son, William Benedict.
As a child, she would wonder around the land that surrounded her home and pick flowers. You could always find her happily raking one of the many gardens her mother had planted. At the age of seven Rose planted her very first gardens, and was amazed to see actual radishes when she’d pull them out of the ground.
She was a graduate of Lunenburg High School in 1961, and lived as a homemaker in Lunenburg, MA until 1982 and later moved to Fitchburg, MA; Daytona Beach, FL; Port Orange, FL; Macon, GA; and multiples places in North Carolina.
Throughout her life, she was very creative and enjoyed gardening and crafting. She worked as a clerical worker and office manager at Mackie’s Building Supply in Massachusetts, and as a church secretary, and at Juvenile Justice in Florida. She spent many happy hours in the gardens she planted in various homes. Rose had many creative skills including sewing, rug braiding, and designing doll houses.
Besides her husband, she leaves behind her brother, Rocco (Carolyn) Lastella of Lunenburg, MA; her daughter, Bonnie (Norman) Arsenault of Jacksonville, NC; son, Tony (Lisa) Benedict of Durham, NC; five grandchildren, Sarah (David) Danevich of Raleigh, NC, Benjamin (Ashlie) Arsenault of Grovetown, GA, Gwen (Thomas) Chavez of Swansboro, NC, Jeffrey Benedict of Townsend, MA, and Nicholas Benedict of Nacogdoches, TX; and seven great grandchildren.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at parrishfh.com.
