Loretta Mae "Cookie" Rozario Bagley passed away on June 18, 2023 in Tacoma, Washington. She was born May 1, 1939 in New Bedford, Massachusetts to Joseph "Cab" Rozario and Edith Martin Rozario, where she grew up surrounded by many cousins on both sides. She graduated from New Bedford Vocational High School in 1958. Cookie was Head Cheerleader, Captain of the Girls Varsity Basketball team, President of the Girls Athletic Association, and was on the yearbook staff. I would later learn by looking through her yearbook that she was also voted Most Athletic and Most Popular.
She moved to the Bay Area (California) around 1960, where she had two children; Wade Allan Fortes and Kim Renee Fortes. She loved and cherished her kids and grandkids until her last breath. She started working at Wells Fargo Bank around 1970 and worked her way up to Vice President of Customer Service at the Market and Montgomery, San Francisco branch, where she worked for approximately twenty years. Cookie was an outspoken and fierce ally to the LGBTO+ community from the 1960's until her passing. She married Dean Bagley in 1973. She retired completely from banking in 1998. She enjoyed volunteering at St Bede's Church, being with her grandkids, and spending time visiting with her friends. Two years after Dean's passing in 2011, Cookie relocated to Bremerton, WA to be with her daughter Kim and her grandchildren. She made friends right away and enjoyed living on a peninsula.
Six months after her move, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer, which she would beat two years later. After, Cookie resumed traveling to New Bedford and the Bay Area until the 2020 pandemic. She was such an amazing, supportive, and caring mom and nana. She will never be forgotten by us.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Joseph "Brother", and her son, Wade.
Cookie is survived by her daughter, Kim Taporco (Roy), her grandchildren, Monique Fortes Perez (Frankie), Jesse Fortes, Francesca Taporco, Roy Taporco, and Ryan Taporco; ten great grandchildren, her brother, Richard Brito (Dee), her nephew, Todd Dos Reis, great-niece, Brittani Dos Reis, her cousins, Cynthia Rose (Bruce), Barbara Fernandes and many cousins whom she loved very much.
Her funeral services and burial were held in Hayward, California. A Memorial Mass will be held on Saturday September 2, 2023 at 4 PM at Our Lady of the Assumption Church.