Rosa has seen a lot of changes to Lorne over the 40 years she has been here, beginning by having annual family holidays in whatever rental property they could get that would accommodate not just them but many of the friends who used to follow them here. “We had so much fun. They were good times”, she said.
Sixteen years ago, the Ragusas bought their own holiday house in Lorne. Three years later they moved here permanently. Husband Joe, worked as co-manager of Duetto Apartments while Rosa worked full time in Duetto Ladies Wear. Their four children visited regularly then as now and with the addition of five grandchildren it is often busy at their house.
Rosa came to Melbourne from Italy with her family before she finished her education. She resumed school in Melbourne and studied until at age 14 when she was needed to look after her brother while her mother went to work. However, she quickly realised that situation wasn’t going to take her far into the future so she enrolled in night school and took a secretarial course. She completed her qualification but with a long held interest in fashion chose to go into retail. Still hankering after working close to the coalface, she moved to a factory and began manufacturing clothes, selling from the site. “Then at 21, I married Joe, had four kids and stayed at home for 19 years”.
After the grandchildren, Rosa’s passion would be clothes and shoes.
Rosa is a member of the Book Club, enjoys yoga and walking on the beach. They get to Europe every second year and escape north to the warmth in winter.
