Rosalie Carmen Payan

Rosalie "Rose" Payan

Mom, Momma, Nana, Rosa, MacGyver, or to our dad-The Warden. Rosalie Carmen Nevarez was born on December 31st 1938, to Edward & Consuelo (Rosales) Nevarez in East Los Angeles California. The lovely Rose was one of 13 children, 5 Nevarez-Ralph, Vivian, Jeri, and Edward, and 8 Soto- Olga, Margie, Lita, Christine, Rudy, Larry, Chito, and John.

Filling stomachs and hearts since a young age, Rose passed away on October 14th, 2022 and on that day, she was still doing what she loved- spending time with family, arranging flowers and wearing red lipstick.

Rosalie graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1957 and when she wasn't helping with her siblings found time to work at a bakery and later for the phone company. Rosa met Nick "The Boss" Payan in 1964, they were married in 1966, and in 1967 she became a mother and went on to have 4 beautiful daughters, Debra, Julie, Michelle & Valarie. In between having children, she found time to become a licensed cosmetologist and saved money by cutting all the girls' hair whether they liked it or not. Devoting her time to those lovely girls, she became a Girl Scout Troop leader for about 10 years and spent hours at Rosmary's school for dance, with the girls involved in tap, ballet and jazz. As the kind soul that Rose was, she and Nick opened their hearts and home to raise a 5th daughter, Lizzy in 1982. Rose had discovered her love for flowers and owned several flower shops over the years, Pico Downey Florist, and Viki's Showers of Flowers, then just when you thought she was done she bought Hadley Flowers and spent over 18 years in the floral industry. The girls quickly found that any spare time was to be spent working at the flower shop(s) and if you were lucky you got to take a break and sweep the floor. Mom was promoted to Nana in 2001 with her first grandson and racked up a total of 10 grandkids over the years, grandkids that she couldn't be without. The love of her life "The Boss" passed away in January of 2017 and though devastated, used the loss to gain independence, driving around to spend time with her daughters and grandkids.

Momma was one of those people who always made you feel at home, partly because if you had ever been to her home, you never left hungry. She always invited you into her home, and never hesitated to offer you food. Perhaps it was a bean and cheese burrito (with egg if it was morning), some of her amazing enchiladas, potato salad, bean dip, green chile, stuffing, or maybe even just a plain bowl of her delicious beans. The same beans you'll probably find in all of the girls' fridges, because you know "You'll never go hungry as long as you have beans in your fridge" On any given day you could probably find Rose playing Rummikub on her phone, ipad, or in person...never letting you forget how good she was, reminding you not to worry because "Maybe you'd win next time- Just go home and practice." When the current reigning Rummikub champion wasn't sharpening her skills, you could find her doing arts and craps- painting rocks, or watching General Hospital or Lifetime on repeat while cuddling with her granddogs. The soaps had been a daily routine since the days of All my Children and One Life to Live, channel 7 always. Her weeks were often also filled with sewing projects for someone in the family, or something they needed. She took pride in sewing for family and friends, from fixing holes, hemming pants or dresses, making costumes, or sewing bandanas, pillows or clothes for the dogs. Rose was a resourceful one to say the least, always finding another way to use things, and with a few supplies from Loads or Skater Brothers she could find a way to repair something that would make you question why you didn't think of that. More recently she enjoyed working out to help with her balance and strength, she rode the bike and threadmill, tried yogurt once, and recently dabbled in weights. Rose somewhat lacked a filter at times but her brutal honesty had an innocence to it; like saying "It's different" when eating food she didn't like, or looking at something less than appealing. Momma was resilient to say the least, surviving breast cancer in her 50's, a brain aneurysm in her 70's, and followed by a heart attack a few years later- in which she thought her arm soreness was just a result of throwing the dog's toy too much. It didn't matter what life threw at her, she met it head on and pulled through; even though as a doctor tried to put her shoulder back in place she said it was worse than 4 child births.

"Be strong- you never know who you are inspiring.'

*Pro Rose Tip- Save your masks, they are good for cleaning glasses.

Rose is survived by her daughters, Debbie (Ruben) Torres, Julie (Don) Hall, Michelle (Steve) Kim, Valarie (Erik) Gamm, and Lizzy Payan; ten grandchildren, Jon, Austin, Kylie, Joseph, Lauren, Morgan, Logan, Nolan, Marissa , and Nico; five sisters, Jeri, Christine, Olga, Margie, and Lita; four brothers, Rudy, Chito, John, and Larry Soto; five granddogs, Rainbow, Paulie, Cooper, Kona and Bear.