Agnes Rose Wilson Messina, 80

Rose Messina (1944-2025), educator, traveler, sailor and all-around pistol, has passed away at the age of 80 in Ventura. Born Agnes Rose Wilson in Pinehurst, Idaho, the youngest of six siblings, she knew on her first day of kindergarten that she wanted to become a teacher. After attending North Idaho College and the University of Idaho, she went abroad and taught schoolchildren in Tunisia and the Netherlands, an experience that left her with a lifelong love of international travel.

While getting her master's degree in early childhood development at the University of Arizona, Rose met Air Force pilot John Messina at a bar where women drank for free. They married soon after.

Stubborn and possessing a healthy disregard for authority, when John was deployed to Thailand during the Vietnam War, she followed — against the wishes of the U.S. military. Eventually, Rose and John settled in Southern California, where she would work in the Port Hueneme School District for almost 40 years, teaching all ages with a particular passion for the arts and a talent for special education. An avid environmentalist, in retirement, she volunteered as a naturalist on whale watching cruises in Southern California.

Throughout her life, her love of travel persisted. After the end of her marriage, she visited more than twenty countries, including the Galapagos Islands and Nepal, often stirring up trouble with her sister Helen or her best friend, Penny. But for Rose, home was Idaho. Every summer, she could be found at her cabin near Carlin Bay swinging in her hanging chair with a book and a glass of wine.

She is survived by her son, Justin.