Obituary

Donald E. Rose, 78

Donald Edward Rose was born May 29, 1921 in the family home. He was delivered by his grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Rose, who was the local midwife.

Don's parents had both been schoolteachers. His mother, Carrie Melton Rose, homesteaded and proved her claim and his father, William Edward Rose, helped his parents prove their homestead claim. Thus began the Rose Ranch in 1915.

Don attended the Grandview Grade School, just a few miles from his family's home, with about a dozen other children. Several of his schoolmates are still neighbors. While he was a student at Eads High School, Don worked at the Kiowa County Press and at the drug store soda fountain.

Don attended the Agricultural College of Fort Collins for one year.

September 12, 1942, he married Betty Jo Chance. Two weeks later he was inducted into the U.S. Air Corp.

When World War II ended, Don returned to work on the Rose Ranch.

He married Dorothy May Van Schooten on December 19, 1949 and together they raised three children on the ranch, Nancy, Shirley and Nathan.

Don spent most of his life raising cattle and wheat. He was proud that Rose and Son cattle always brought the highest prices at the sale ring. While he was never able to brag about having the best yields of wheat in the county, he did take pride in keeping his machinery running longer than most.

Don was a member of the First Christian Church of Eads his whole life. He was a deacon and church board member for many years and a Sunday School Teacher not only for members of his own generation, but also for their children and grandchildren.

Don worked hard to live up to his own ideal of community service. He served on the local school board, was county chairman of the Republican Party, was president of the Kiowa County Farm Bureau for a time, and was a founder and executive board member of the Cactus Players.

Don married Betty Jo Chance Rose December 12, 1989. In the last decade of his life, he finally had the time to travel across the country and to Mexico, visiting many of the places he had always wanted to see before his death August 27, 1999.

Don Rose will be remembered as a man of integrity and generosity, always concerned for others' welfare and comfort. He will be remembered as a man who loved to read who never stopped learning. We will remember that he was a good listener, more likely to be the one laughing in appreciation rather than the one telling the funny story.

Perhaps, however, we remember best how he loved to sing. His family will remember that he sang in the shower, and he sang in the car. Don's fellow church members will remember him singing every hymn every Sunday and singing in the church choir whenever there was one. His friends in the community will remember him singing year after year in the community cantata and several times in a men's ensemble at the Kiowa County Jamboree. Don loved to sing, but he never sang a solo and never wanted to.

Now he is singing bass in the heavenly choir.

He is preceded in death by his parents; William E. "Tommy" and Carrie (Melton) Rose, and his second wife Dorothy Rose.

Don is survived by his wife, Betty Jo, of the family home, his three children, Nancy Rose MacKenzie of North Mankato, Minnesota, Shirley Rose and her husband Leon Johnson of West Lafayette, Indiana, and his son, Nathan Rose of La Junta. He is also survived by grandchildren, Philip MacKenzie and Fiona MacKenzie both of North Mankato, as well as many friends.

Graveside services were held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 31, 1999, at the Eads Cemetery with Pastor Steven Puls of the Eads First Baptist Church officiating. Special tape selections of "Daddy Sings Bass" and "In The Sweet Bye and Bye" were played to the large gathering of friends and family.

Serving as honorary bearers were Stanley Weisdorfer, Bob Denton, Heath Spady, Merle Frazee, Jack Gardner, Jimmy Bendorf, Jerry Weirich, Ted DeLong and Richard Morgan.

Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Peacock Family.