61 - Goodbye, Rose

THE PIERRE, New York;  BROWNS
and THE PARK LANE, London

Rose, at home in Pinehurst around 1958

 

        Rose was my British aunt.  She was Frances'  friend and was always an integral part of the family.

Born near London, the youngest of a number of brothers and sisters, Rose left England around the time of the First World War.  She first landed in Canada, served as a nurse in the military,  later settled in or near New York City.

Towards the end of the Second World War she was offered a good job as Head Nurse at Moore County Hospital in Pinehurst.  Whether she knew Frances before or after moving to the Sandhills, I do not know, but they always shared a duplex on Everitt Road for as long as I can remember.

As a child I thought it was somehow wonderful that Rose became such a part of the Pleasants family, but in some ways she must have regretted losing a portion of her own identity and independence in the process.  

With the twins 1953 (Dickie, Rose, Mickie and Frances)

Frances set up her own decorating business around 1950, and when she later opened an upscale gift shop, she talked Rose into leaving her hospital job to run the shop and keep the company books.

During the business'  thriving years, both Frances and Rose lived --if not in splendor-- a life of comfort far surpassing our family's rather humdrum existence three miles away in Aberdeen.  

* * * * * *

Brown's today (photo Rocco Forte Hotels)

   They once spent a month on a buying trip to London in a suite at Brown's Hotel, Frances and Rose.   It was in 1953, the year of  Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and through most of my childhood I always assumed they had actually been invited to the ceremony, which of course was not the case.

Frances mastered the art of understatement.  She never boasted or openly exaggerated, but discreetly insinuated.  So that when she spoke of having gone to London for the coronation, you just naturally assumed she must have had some direct connection with the Queen of England.

Frances in Blowing Rock, summer of 1956 (photo by Rose F.)

 When the retirement years arrived, and some of Frances' poor business decisions and overspending began to take their toll, Rose was left almost without means.  With only a minimal social security retirement and no assets of her own, she then found herself dependent on an increasingly irritable Frances who, encouraged by the ravages of alcohol, became frequently aggressive and unkind to her longstanding friend.

But like my aunt and uncle Martha and Nelson, Frances and Rose always seemed to be surrounded by friends of means and generosity, often ready to extend invitations of great bounty.

The Morlands were such friends. 

By the time Rose reached her seventies she had been diagnosed with a fatal heart malady, and as a seasoned nurse, she had no illusions about her life expectancy.  Gil and Virginia Morland proposed taking her to England for what was tacitly understood to be a last visit.

It was quite a trip.  Two days at the Pierre Hotel in New York before boarding the Queen Mary for Southampton.   In London the three friends stayed at the Morland's favorite hotel, The Park Lane.  No expense was spared, and Rose was thrilled with the attention.  

The day Rose was to visit her last surviving sister in a distant northern suburb, the Morlands arranged for a car with driver.

I cannot claim to have been a fly on the wall, and there are no witnesses to Rose's family reunion.  I can only imagine the impact  when she swept out of the limousine.  She had become increasingly grand as the years went on, though I assume from family conversations that her beginnings were on the modest side.

When Rose died several years later, she was virtually penniless, but she never had to significantly modify her lifestyle.  Frances took charge of her funeral, and she was buried with the rest of the Pleasants family in Aberdeen.  

Rose towards the end of her life

It was about a month later that Frances received a letter from England.  It was from the sister, and she wrote of bereavement for her departed Rosie.   Then in short order she inquired of the "estate."  A second letter soon followed, this one referring  more directly to the "inheritance."   

Frances replied, explaining there was neither estate nor inheritance, that Rose had died with insufficient means to cover her debts.

A London solicitor telephoned at some later point, representing the disappointed sister.   Everyone was ultimately made to understand that there would be no inheritance en route.  

Rose's life appeared (and not just to her sister) to be one of privilege, and in many ways it was.  Born before the turn of the century into a simpler milieu,  the streets of America were still thought to be paved with gold.  To the family remaining in the same London suburb, it must have looked as though Rose had struck it rich.  

But appearances can be deceiving.   Her adopted country certainly  blessed her with many generous friends and even a second family.  But no fortune. 

Aboard the Queen Mary, the captain's reception circa 1966

 Rose's last trip "home" to England (Cunard photo)

Your input is welcomed:  frank.pleasants@libertysurf.fr


[Photos are mine, unless otherwise credited]

CROSS REFERENCING … a look at other postings

Rose is mentioned in "A Date With Dephie" Musings and Meanderings No. 17;Rose and Frances were  featured in Hotel Musings No. 4, "A Two-Dollar Hamburger under a Silvery Dome" ; Frances was mentioned in blog No. 51 "A Christmas Gift"  (to access, click on highlighted titles).