Rose Marie Beston (nee Beattie) obtained a BA at St Joseph's College, Maine, in 1961, an MA from Boston College in 1963, and PhD with High Distinction from the University of Pittsburgh in 1967. She taught at American and Australian Universities (University of Queensland and Western Australian Institute of Technology). She married
John Beston (qv.) in 1970. After returning to the US in 1976, she took a Certificate of Advanced Studies at Harvard University and entered university administration, becoming President of Nazareth College, at Rochester in New York in 1984. After retiring in 1998, she spent half the year in Santa Fe New Mexico, half in Coffs Harbour. In 2006 she and her husband immigrated permanently to Australia and moved to Coffs Harbour. Rose Marie Beston became an Australian citizen in 2007.