Rosemary Kooiman, 77; Performed Pagan Wedding Ceremonies

Rosemary Kooiman, 77, a self-described witch who won the legal right to perform pagan weddings in Virginia, died March 5 of a heart attack at her home in Laurel, Md.

Kooiman, a retired government worker and high priestess of a group she founded called the Nomadic Chantry of the Gramarye, sought to marry a Virginia couple in 1998. She was denied a clergy license after a Fairfax County judge ruled that the pagan Wicca group did not qualify as a religious organization. A judge in Alexandria, Va., also denied her a license.

With help from the American Civil Liberties Union, she applied for the license in Norfolk Circuit Court and received it in September 1998, allowing her to officiate at weddings -- known as “handfastings” among pagans -- in Virginia. She also performed weddings in Maryland and Pennsylvania, which do not require clergy to have a license, and was licensed to conduct weddings in Washington, D.C.