In Memory: Ann Rosemary Rose, Age 86

Ann Rosemary Rose, 86, of Mystic passed away on Feb 12, 2022, just five days before her birthday. She was born at Watford in England, the only daughter of Robert and Lorna North.

Ann was baptized into the Church of England, but, although a committed Protestant, she underwent her high school education at the boarding school associated with the Roman Catholic Convent of the Assumption at Ramsgate on the country’s southern coast. She became an Episcopalian when she emigrated to the United States, and for twenty-two years was a devoted member of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Mystic.

When Ann left high school her wish was to attend one of the prestigious modeling schools in London, but her father wisely insisted that she should first train for a more stable career. She studied at the London Regent Street Polytechnic, received a degree and a teaching diploma in Home Economics, and then proceeded immediately to the Lucie Clayton Modelling School in Oxford Street, which at the time was also considered to be Britain’s leading modeling agency and was only a couple of blocks from the Poly. Among her classmates was Jean Shrimpton, also a “convent girl”, who was to become one of the world’s first ‘super models’, promoter of the miniskirt, and an icon of Swinging London.

Later, after working as a sub-editor for the national magazine ‘Woman’, Ann married David, a medical student at Sheffield in the north of England. She arrived in Sheffield as a southern outsider, but quickly established herself as an honorary Yorkshire Woman. On one famed occasion she returned from a trip to London and was asked: “Been to London have you luv, how did they treat you down there?”

In 1972, Ann, David, and their son David Christopher moved permanently to the United States. After 13 years in Madison, Wisconsin they relocated to New York, living in Rye on Long Island Sound, and finally retired to Mystic in 2000. Foremost for Ann was her family: husband, son David Christopher and daughter-in-law Mary, grandchildren Wendy and Alex and, with special pride, six great grandchildren. When in Wisconsin, she was a prominent member of the University’s Madison Friends of Foreign Students. In New York, she trained as a volunteer worker in the Home Hospice Program that at the time was a new concept and a National Cancer Institute-funded Demonstration Project.

Ann’s ashes will be placed in the Memorial Garden at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. There will be a funeral service with communion on Saturday, March 19, at 3pm at St. Mark’s Church, 15 Pearl Street, Mystic. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name may be made to a charity of your choice.