Rose Marie Edwards, a retired Baltimore City Department of Social Services worker who established a tea company, died June 21 of arrhythmia at Northwest Hospital Center. She was 59.
Rose Marie Mackall, the daughter of a sheet metal worker and a seamstress, was born in Baltimore and raised on Pennsylvania Avenue.
She was a 1969 Forest Park High School graduate and earned a degree in public assistance staff training in 1992 from Baltimore City Community College.
Mrs. Edwards worked for 35 years as an income maintenance supervisor for the city Department of Social Services, retiring last year.
The longtime Woodlawn resident had owned and operated Our Children Family Day Care and was the founder and CEO of Maple Rose Premium Tea.
"It was a tea blend from a 40-year-old family recipe," said her daughter, Denine M. Edwards of Woodlawn.
"People would stop by her house to talk and drink tea. It really was the best tea in the world, and everybody who tried it love it," said Tanya Waltrick, a goddaughter who lives in Baltimore.
Mrs. Edwards had been a communicant of St. Peter Claver Roman Catholic Church and later became a member of Christian Community Church of God, where she was a member of the usher board and the Missionary Ministry.
She enjoyed traveling and taking cruises.
Services were held June 26.
Also surviving are her husband of 35 years, Paul Edwards; a stepson, Stephen Edwards of Los Angeles; and two brothers, Timothy Welsh Sr. of Baltimore and the Rev. Robert Mackall of Jacksonville, N.C. A stepdaughter, Sharon Wayne, died in 2004.