Naomi I. Rossi
In the care of Chapel of the Roses & Chapel of the Roses Cemetery
Sept. 20, 1933 – March 4, 2025
– Naomi I. Rossi, passed into the presence of her beloved Savior Jesus Christ, on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. She was at home, surrounded by the warm embrace of her family, in Atascadero, California.
Born in Crossett, Arkansas, she was the youngest daughter of George & Jeanette Fleming. Her mother and siblings were moved to San Luis Obispo, CA after Naomi’s father was killed. Her mother’s sister and brother-in-law took them along with them when they went migrated west to California, ending up in San Luis Obispo. The family attended Grace Church in SLO and was greatly helped by their generosity. When Naomi’s mother remarried, she became the middle child with two little sisters. She attended schools in SLO with her siblings and lots of cousins who had also moved out to California from Arkansas.
In 1950 she married the love of her life, James Rossi, at a wedding chapel at Lake Tahoe. They honeymooned in San Francisco before coming home to Templeton. Meeting Jim’s family and living on the Crescent Farms Dairy was a big change for Naomi. But she was soon to realize the great value of her new loving mother-in-law, Edith Rossi. from whom she learned valuable lessons in cooking and child raising. Three children were born during the early 50’s, and the last one arrived as they moved into the new home that her father-in-law Vincent Rossi built in Atascadero.
The Dairy was taken over by Jim and his two brothers, when Vincent retired. In 1953, Jim bought a milk tanker truck and hauled the milk from the dairy to the Santa Barbara Creamery. By the time Jim’s brothers were done with the dairy, Jim and Naomi had started their own trucking company, Rossi Transport Service. With Jim in the truck and Naomi raising four children, the business became one of the mainstays of the north SLO county farm and ranch community.
During the ’60s and ’70s she was a devoted wife, loving mother, homemaker, chauffeur, cook, housekeeper, referee and CEO of the household. Somewhere in the middle of all that busyness, she came to really know Jesus as her Lord and Savior. This was the turning point that guided her the rest of her life and made a difference in how she lived. She became a Good News Club teacher for the neighborhood children, while sharing her faith with family and just about everyone she encountered,
In 2018, when Jim went home to heaven, she became much more of a homebody. Naomi had always been a voracious reader. On many days you would find her with a brookie (brownie/cookie) in hand sitting in her blue recliner and reading multiple books while also allowing time to share her faith with others. She was generous to share the blessings that God had given her with others, some she knew and others she is only meeting now that she is in heaven. She was a prayer warrior and with phone in hand and the Bible in the other she regularly checked on others who needed encouraging by phone, sharing Jesus’ love and what he meant to her.
She is survived by four children: Susan Sommers (Scott), Atascadero, Steven Rossi (Lauri), Atascadero, Julie Kauffold (Michael) of Wolf Point, Montana and Christoper Rossi (Dawn) of Wisconsin. One sister, Janet Martinez, Morgan Hill. Thirteen grandchildren, and Fourteen great- grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, James Rossi, brother George Fleming III, Sisters Ruth Salvador, Irma Nickerson and Grandson Samuel Sommers and Jonah Sommers.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to Child Evangelism Fellowship, PO Box 1784, Atascadero, Ca 93422, or St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, PO Box 50, Memphis, Tn, 38101-9929 or Samaritans Purse, PO Box 3000, Boone, NC, 28607
We will be holding a graveside on March 20th at 10 a.m. at Templeton District Cemetery. A service will be held at 11:30 a.m. at Gospel Chapel in Atascadero and a luncheon to follow.
We thank everyone who has upheld us in prayer these last few months. We want to thank Dr Greg Ellison, and all my mom’s caretakers Kimberly, Stephanie, Barbara, Michelle, Wendi, and especially Luanne, who spent her last 6 months week nites making mom laugh and comfortable.
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