Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, and raised in Jerusalem until 1948, when war forced her family to move back to Bethlehem. In 1951, she was among the 18 girls who petitioned the local government to open the first high school for girls. She went to university in the United States and worked as a teacher in Schenectady, New York, before moving to Ontario, Canada, where she taught for 28 years.