Rosemarie C. Peiffer was born in an area of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, later known as Nesquehoning, in 1936. Raised on a farm in Schuylkill County, Rosemarie graduated from Reading Hospital and School of Medicine with her Registered Nurse degree in 1956. She married in that same year and moved to Baltimore with her husband, Howard, where they lived until 1964 before returning to Pennsylvania.
Rosemarie’s engagement with politics sprung from her love for agriculture, land preservation and conservation. In 1969, while working as a nurse and a mother of three children, Rosemarie spearheaded a public effort to save 160 acres of farmland from development in Lower Allen Township. Although ultimately the project moved forward, the revised development plans reflected public concern for open green spaces and reduced building density.
Known by many for her honesty and tenacity, Rosemarie entered politics in 1973, running for New Cumberland borough council and lost. Running again in 1975, she won the position. In 1980, she entered a tightly contested race for Cumberland County Commissioner, winning the minority Republican seat by less than 100 votes, becoming the first woman in Cumberland County to be elected as Commissioner. During her service, she was a fiscal conservative that wanted to protect citizen rights and championed the interest of farmers and land preservation.
Due to her belief in term limits and difficulties faced with continual harassment from the press and male colleagues, Rosemarie opted not to run for a second term. She continued to serve the community, holding positions on many boards and committees throughout her life including the Board of Directors for the Cumberland Ag Extension Office, Cumberland County Conservation District and Planning Committees, Harrisburg Area Transit Committee, and the Tri-County Planning Committee where she received the Governor’s Planner of the Year Award.
Born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1936, Pat attended William Penn High School and graduated from the Harrisburg Hospital School of Nursing in 1957. Afterwards she worked as a pediatric surgical nurse at the Harrisburg Hospital and then later held a position as Charge Nurse in a long-term car