Emily B. (Jackie) Rocca (November 2, 1943-June 14, 2014)

Emily, more often known as Jackie, Rocca died on June 14 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

She was born and raised in the Norfolk, Virginia area to Emily Daughtry Branch and James Selwyn Branch, and had lived in adulthood in Newport News, Virginia; Gaithersburg, Columbia, and for the last eighteen years Annapolis, Maryland.

Jackie graduated from Westhampton College in Richmond, Virginia and earned a masters degree in school counseling from the College of William and Mary. Her working career began in education, first as a teacher and then as a counselor; but she later moved into business and became a cost analyst for Fairchild Industries.

In Annapolis Jackie joined the Unitarian Universalist Church where she enjoyed participating in both a Covenant group and a book group. She became a student of opera, studying the music and composers and attending performances as often as she could.

She is survived by two sisters, Gale Gillepsie and Jane Botula and her husband Bernie Botula. In addition she had five nieces and nephews and nineteen grand nieces and nephews, all of whose lives she diligently followed.

A service will be held in her memory on Saturday, June 21, at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 333 Dubois Road, Annapolis, at 10AM.

In lieu of flowers gifts could be made to The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 1615 M Street NW, Washington, DC; or The American Lung Association, 211 E. Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21202.