Virginia Lee Rose

Virginia Lee Rose died peacefully on Saturday, December 14 at the age of 83. She was born in Lawrence, KS to Leslie H. and Dorothy Christy Rose.

She is survived by her brother Jim Rose of Lawrence, KS, his son James, and her late brother Jack’s daughters, Leslie Rose of San Bruno and Virginia Rose Blum of Silver Spring, MD.

Virginia grew up in Lawrence, and attended the University of Kansas, where she earned a BA in Liberal Arts & Sciences in 1952.

She worked as a flight attendant for TWA in the 1950’s, where her most memorable passenger was Yul Brenner, of whom she said years later “He just HAD it”.She moved to San Francisco’s Marina District at the start of the 1960’s and taught school in South San Francisco for the next 37 years, mainly first grade. She enjoyed seeing children come into the year unable to read and leave knowing how. She was known to dance the Charleston for them on rainy afternoons when they couldn’t get outside to play.

She was a member of Calgary Presbyterian Church, San Francisco. In her later years, Virginia was a fixture on Chestnut Street in San Francisco, meeting friends and watching the world pass by from neighborhood coffeehouses.

She moved to Nazareth Care Center in Menlo Park in August 2012 and died there from complications of Alzheimer’s.

A private graveside service will take place December 23rd at Oak Hill Cemetery, Lawrence.