Gena's Obituary - In Her Son's Words

This obit is adapted from the Face Book site her son started during Gena's surgery last spring. It conveys the feeling that all of us have about having Gena as part of our lives.
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/obituaries/246/

Reginann ‘Gena’ Rohlfs

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Died February 26, 2008

Reginann Ellen Masi Rohlfs, 59, who was known as Gena, a longtime teacher at Forest Edge Elementary School in Reston, died Feb. 26 of complications from chemotherapy.

Friends may call Monday, March 3, from 5 to 8 p.m., at Adams-Green Funeral Home in Herndon. Services are Tuesday, March 4 at 10 a.m. at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Reston. Burial will be Wednesday, March 5 at 9 a.m. at Arlington National Cemetery.

Mrs. Rohlfs was born Nov. 12, 1948, to Virginia Marie Beddow and Vincent Joseph Masi. She grew up in Yonkers, N.Y., attended Mercy College and became a teacher. Shortly after, she married H. Warren Rohlfs Jr. and began traveling the country with him, ending up in Guam, where she got her master's degree in education. She went on to become one of the most highly respected educators in Fairfax County Public Schools. In recent years she taught in the Gifted and Talented Center at Forest Edge.

Mrs. Rohlfs was an experienced SCUBA diver, supported countless organizations, including the Girl Scouts of America and the Boy Scouts of America, and was active in her Parish.

According to her son Quentin Rohlfs, she was a woman who saw great potential in every student and tried to inspire and support “her kids.”

“She was a leader in everything she did,” he wrote. “She always loved the theater, and it could be easily seen in the way she produced plays with her students as often as she could.

"She had been, and still remains, a role model for other cancer survivors and fighters,” Quentin added. When Mrs. Rohlfs was first diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer nearly 10 years ago, her doctors gave her six months to live.

One of her favorite quotes, Quentin said, was from Dr. Seuss: "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter."

Survivors also include four other children, Warren Rohlfs, Hannah Rohlfs, Rori Rohlfs and Jared Rohlfs.

Memorials may be sent to Conversations! The International Newsletter for Those Fighting Ovarian Cancer, P.O. Box 7948, Amarillo, TX 79114-7948; or St. John Neumann Church, 11900 Lawyers Road, Reston, VA 20191-4299.