Rosalea holds degrees in Spanish literature from the University of Kansas (BA) and Cornell University (MA & PhD). For over thirty years she taught at the University of Kansas, from where she retired, and at the University of Tulsa. As a volunteer Rosalea has tutored for AOC’s Homework Helpers and has been an officer for various local organizations: the KU Libraries friends’ group, her neighborhood association, her sorority advisory board, and elementary and high school parents’ organizations.

Rosalea lives in the nineteenth-century house where she grew up, an Italianate built by dry-goods and lumber merchant Alexander Lewis. Many of her ancestors, on both sides of her family tree, settled in Douglas County before 1870. She has been married to Peter Carttar for forty years; they met in algebra class at Central Junior High School. They have three adult children, who have been lovingly schooled in matters of local history.