A Celebration of Life for Mrs. Rosie Lee Jackson-Hawley will be held Saturday, June 11, 2022, at 11:00AM in Zarephath Apostolic Assemblies.  The family will receive friends in the Faith Church @ Jacksonville, 4745 San Juan Avenue, on Friday, June 10, from 4:00PM-7:00PM.  Final resting place in Evergreen Cemetery.

Rosie Lee Lawrence was born on June 5, 1943, in Poughkeepsie, New York to Elijah Lawrence and Leona Watkins Lawrence. At the tender age of 2, the family relocated to Emanuel County Georgia where she attended school. In 1955, they once again relocated to Jacksonville Beach, Florida. While living in the Beaches community, Rosie attended Douglas Anderson High School.

Rosie accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior at a young age. In 1955, she and her family joined the First Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Rosie met and married Lester Jackson and together they shared 38 years of marriage until his untimely demise in on October 5, 1998. She held employment in the domestic industry for many years with the Beaches Laundry, Catalina Motel and Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. Rosie had a servant's heart and shared that part of her with many families. She shared herself through housecleaning, cooking, childcare and nurturing, ironing, sewing, or whatever she could do to help provide for her family. The families she served includes BB Stockton & Family, the Lancasters, Charles & June Pabian, the Carson Family, Roger & Eula Hazelhurst, Susan Ray & Family, Thomas and Becky Douglas, the Shoemaker Family, Evelyn Rushon & Family, Michael & Jane Wood, Gus and Kathy Hardee and many others, too many to name. Of all the families she encountered, she gained favor in the sight of God with Randolph M. and Susan W. Hardee. Rosie was never received as a housekeeper in this family. She was made to feel at home and a part of this family. She would enjoy their three lovely daughters: Meredith, Delia and Stephanie, and loved them as if they were her own. Mr. Hardee would often ask for her scrumptious chicken and dumplings and her delicious turnip greens, which he sometimes would go as far as Sarasota to get the greens fresh. The whole family would crave her famous sweet potato pie. She served the Hardees for more than 40 years until her health began to decline.

In the early 1970's, Rosie rededicated her life to Christ at First Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor H. H. Wright, Sr. As a member of FMBC, she served in Choir #1 where she loved to sing to the Lord. She also served on the Deaconess Ministry, Culinary Arts Ministry (Kitchen Crew), District #5 and assisted with the Annual Summer Camp. In 2009, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, she joined Faith Church @Jacksonville under the leadership of her son, Pastor Erich Jackson. There she served on the Seasoned Saints Praise Team, Culinary Arts Ministry, and as a dutiful Mother of the Church. Rosie loved her tambourine at all church services and could be found playing it with joy. She also had an impeccable gift for baking and cooking. We would enjoy her cakes and pies, awesome banana pudding, the "best" potato salad and dressing, smothered chicken wings and gravy, amazing baked chicken and yellow rice, and her famous, cheesy casseroles made from whatever meat was left from the holidays. Rosie loved feeding the neighborhood and the homeless with her delicacies that she labored hard and long to prepare. She also loved to clean, travel, shop, dance, listen to music, dress up gorgeously and spend time with her children and grandchildren, whom she loved with every fiber of her being.

In 2009, new love sparked when Rosie cooked a meal and Robert Hawley came to dinner with her son and daughter-in-law. He fell in love with her from that moment forward, at least the food of course…LOL. On September 11, 2011, they united together in Holy Matrimony and shared four months shy of 11 years of marital bliss. She loved him and he loved her, "No Matter What!"

Rosie was preceded in death by her parents: Reverend Elijah Lawrence and Leona Lawrence; her first husband, Deacon Lester Jackson; her sons; Bobby "Peanut" Jackson; her sister, Mattie James; her brother, David Lawrence; bonus children: Lester Jackson, Jr. and Jacqueline Jackson; two brothers-in-law: Reverend Willie Jackson and Beauford Easterling; one sister-in-law: Lillie B. Jackson; and many other precious relatives and extended family.

Rosie leaves to cherish her many precious memories: her faithful husband and caretaker, Robert D. Hawley; her devoted children: Barbara A. Wiggins (Sam), Phyllis A. Johnson (Aubrey, Sr.), Catherine L. Womack (David) and Erich J. Jackson (LaSharles); bonus children: Roy Smith (Tyree), Donnie Jackson, Willie Lee Jackson, Willie Roy Jackson, Wylene Danford, Roseann Brooks (Ernest); 34 grandchildren; a host of great and great-great grandchildren; her loving siblings: Elizabeth Ross, Dorothy Williams (Ivory), Eva M. Easterling and Essie Lee Parrish (Homer); one aunt: Alzeda Brown; mother-in-law: Elise Pryor; sisters-in-law: Lynn Borden and Jenifer Patterson; one brother-in-law, Mark Gibson; best friend and sister: Susan Hardee; adopted sister: Beverly Howard-Weed; numerous bonus children and bonus grandchildren; a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other loving relatives, extended family, Faith Church @ Jacksonville Family and many, many dear friends.