Not long after returning to Ottawa Rosemary herself was married, in April 1963, to Richard Michael Eaton. Unfortunately, around this time Rosemary developed a medical problem which curtailed many of her activities. Hospitalization and batteries of tests dragged on for prolonged periods but, after some time, she began to make a slow recovery. Some of the consequences dogged her for the rest of her life. Her husband's career brought them to Nova Scotia in 1965. Rosemary had some reservations about the move initially. Since her arrival in Canada she had been based in Ottawa and had had little to do with eastern Canada. Her interests, assignments and recreational jaunts had always taken her west or north.

For the next four decades, however, Nova Scotia was to be her home. As Rosemary's health improved she became more and more involved with her new province. The Eatons found a property just east of Dartmouth, now a part of the Halifax Regional Municipality. It was situated on a secluded cove, on the western shore of Cole Harbour which is an extensive tidal inlet largely separated from the Atlantic Ocean by dunes and a sandy barrier beach. The shallow harbour consisted mainly of salt marsh and mud flats and was surrounded, with the exception of a bit of old farmland and a few scattered homes, by rocky barrens and woodland. The rural community of Cole Harbour had existed on the western side of this body of water for more than two centuries. Growth had been modest during this period but, in 1967, the community was about to be overtaken by suburbia. The threats of imminent development were just beginning to escalate when the Eatons took up residence in Cole Harbour.