Obituary of Roseann Mary Layne

Roseann M. Layne Resident of Santa Cruz 12/4/1942 to 11/19/2010 On Friday, November 19, 2010, Roseann Layne succumbed to a five-month battle with an aggressive brain tumor. She is survived by her husband of 44 years, Ken, two children, Sean Layne and Anni Layne Rodgers, two grandchildren, MacKinlay and Charlotte Rodgers, her brother, Neal Coonerty, and her sister, Sheila Coonerty. Roseann was predeceased by her parents, Kevin and Ann Coonerty. Roseann also is mourned by her nephew, Ryan Coonerty, her two nieces, Casey Coonerty-Protti and Nina Coonerty, as well as dozens of Irish cousins. Shortly after marrying Ken Layne in 1966, Roseann Coonerty graduated from San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University at Northridge) with a BA degree in history and a California general-secondary teaching credential. Before they celebrated their first wedding anniversary, the newly minted Layne family moved north from the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Clara Valley. There, Roseann followed the example of her mother, Ann Coonerty, and launched a 40-year career as a junior high school teacher. She specialized in history, literature, geography, and civics, with a little math thrown in occasionally. Roseann taught primarily in private and parochial schools in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. She started in 1967 at St. Nicholas school in Los Altos Hills. After taking a few years off to be Mom to her two children, she returned to work at Grant and West Valley elementary schools as a librarian. Teaching stints later followed at St. Elizabeth Seaton in East Palo Alto, James Flood School in the Ravenswood district, South Peninsula Hebrew Day School in Sunnyvale, and finally Good Shepherd Catholic School in Santa Cruz where she spent the last seven years of her career. Roseann once said, "I've taught Jesus to the Jews and Moses to the Catholics and no parent ever complained about how I did it." Roseann Layne will be mourned by many former students and teaching colleagues, as well as by her extensive Irish family. A funeral mass will be held for Roseann Layne at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 1st at: Resurrection Catholic Church 7600 Soquel Drive (corner of Soquel Drive and State Park Drive) Aptos, California The family asks that in lieu of flowers or other such remembrances, donations be made to Hospice of Santa Cruz County.