Robert R. Rose

Robert Raymond Rose Coast Guard Auxiliary Mourns Loss of 57-Year Veteran Member Robert Raymond Rose, formerly of Tequesta, passed away peacefully at his Jensen Beach residence on Monday 15 November 2010. He was 90 years old and had been in declining health since a November 2008 house fire in which his wife of 65 years, Alma, perished and in which the house and its contents were a total loss. Mr. Rose served in the Army Air Corps in World War II as a B-17 and B-24 gunnery instructor and then in Europe in the air campaign over Germany. After the war he attended college, graduating from the University of Oklahoma, then entered government service as a photographer and film-maker in the US Information Agency. Serving all presidents from Harry Truman through Lyndon Johnson, Mr. Rose was responsible for documenting the travel and entertaining of the First Families and the foreign dignitaries they visited or entertained. A momentous contribution of his career was the award-winning documentary, “John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums,” which was produced as a tribute to the fallen President and which Mr. Rose began working on immediately after the funeral. Mr. Rose retired from the USIA in January 1973. The Roses then moved to Tequesta, FL, where they lived until the fire. In 1953, early in his career in the nation’s capital, Mr. Rose joined the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, the volunteer arm of the United States Coast Guard. He was an active member of that organization throughout the rest of his life, rising to the rank of District Captain, and accumulating 57 years of service to the Coast Guard and the nation. His keen interest in history and its documentation was life-long, as he served for years as Historian for the Coast Guard Auxiliary Seventh District after his retirement to Florida. Until the fire, he was rarely seen without a camera. In the summer of 2008, on the occasion of his 55th anniversary of membership in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Mr. Rose was honored by Rear Admiral R. Steve Branham, then-Commanding Officer of the Seventh Coast Guard District, along with Rear Admiral Karl Schultz, then-Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Sector Miami, as they personally presented him with a commemorative plaque. At that ceremony they also publicly thanked Mrs. Rose for her own 25 years of service to the organization. In addition to the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, Mr. Rose was a member of the Loxahatchee River Historical Society and the Tequesta Country Club. Having no children, Mr. Rose is survived by a cousin, Marsha Kimble of St. Augustine, FL, and a sister-in-law, Mrs. Donna Meekins of Maryland. Service arrangements are pending. In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made in Mr. Rose’s memory to the US Coast Guard Auxiliary Records Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858-4353. For directions and online condolences, visit www.taylorandmodeen.com.

Robert R. Rose

September 30, 1920 - November 15, 2010