R.I.P. Darling Rose~

Rose Cruikshank died August 24, 2012, of complications of old age, at Medford Leas, in Medford, NJ. She was 97 years old.

She was born in Albany, NY, on March 20, 1915 to Cora Killmon and George Benson Swindell.

A miniature portrait of Rose painted by her aunt Bertha Swindell.

Her grandfather was one of the founders of Swindell Brothers Glass,  a large glass factory in Baltimore, Md.  The family considered themselves Baltimore aristocrats. Just like in a Henry James novel, the grandmother took her daughters to London to be presented to society, and one daughter married Sir Pardley Bramwell Reece. Alas, the young couple died at sea when their ocean liner was torpedoed shortly before the first World War.

Until her father died in 1926 Rose and her brother Ben grew up at “Old Crossing” in Wardour near Annapolis, Md. She remembered going to an Easter egg roll at the White House when Calvin Coolidge was president, and did a funny imitation of his wooden handshake, "Howdoyado, I'm pleased to meetcha."

While a student at Johns Hopkins University, Rose travelled around Baltimore giving speeches from a sound truck for the reelection of Franklin Roosevelt.  It shocked members of her strictly Republican family. She graduated in 1939.

Rose's aunt, Bertha Swindell, was a well known portrait artist, and was even commissioned to paint FDR.Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a letter to Bertha criticizing the way her husband's nose was painted!

After college Rose moved to New York City and got a job as assistant to the director of the Brooklyn Museum, Laurance Roberts, based on her beautiful handwriting.

She met her husband, Ernest Cruikshank, in New York, and they were married in Baltimore in 1940.  When they became engaged they revealed to each other their salaries: Ernest, $35 a week, Rose $25. He worked his entire life at the American Smelting Co., in New York and died in 1969.

Right after they were married Rose added up all the meals she would have to cook in a lifetime and almost had a nervous breakdown!

Most of their married life was spent at 15 Red Road, in Chatham, New Jersey.  Rose was very involved in community life. She was a member of  St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the Chatham Community Players, and the Chatham Historical Society, of which she was curator for some years.
In 1994 Les Lehman interviewed Rose about her life in Chatham and the full transcript is here. It's worth reading.

On the left is the 1935 Packard Phaeton which was their wedding vehicle, and the car that brought home all three baby children.  Ernest owned 3 classic car Packards and many vacations were spent with the Classic Car Club of America.

The Cruikshanks had three children: Carol, an artist, died in 1992, Ernest III (Cricket) of Princeton, NJ, Executive Vice President/Chief Investment Officer at Jamison, Eaton & Wood, and Sally, an animator in Los Angeles.

Here is an extraordinary poetic sketchbook Carol did when she was 15 or 16.

Rose is also survived by six grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Friendly, funny, imaginative, Rose approached life as if there were no barriers.

She once wrote a letter to Somerset Maugham inviting him to come to her house for dinner. Although he didn’t accept it, he sent her a charming letter in return.

She had a traveling puppet show called The Gumdrop Theatre, with all original scripts and characters which she performed for children’s birthday parties. Some of Sally’s animated characters were inspired by these goofy shows. We still remember the line, "It's not the size of your feet that counts, it's the size of your heart."

She often staged holiday shows for the family with wacky scripts and costumes, like this one below.

Rose with her grandson John Slater

She appeared on the Dave Garroway “Today” tv show with her cat, Reddy the Red.

At the 4th of July Bicentennial, Rose dressed up as the Statue of Liberty, including copper green makeup, and rode through town on a float.

She even had the idea, in the 1950's(!) to dress up in a buckskin Indian outfit and paddle the Passaic River, to draw attention to how polluted it had become.

In 1955 she drove from Chatham to Westport, Connecticut to see if she could interest Tom Funk in illustrating the children’s book she’d just written, “Benny the Bathtub.” She got the idea for this book while driving in the South, before the big highways were built. Outside of small towns, by the side of the road, there would often be old bathtubs for sale, the remains of grand, old houses. She’d never met Tom Funk,but liked his illustrations in The New Yorker.  He answered the door, said he couldn’t invite her in,but if she waited he’d read the manuscript and tell her what he thought.

He came out of the house half an hour later and said he’d love to illustrate it!

She also wrote a children’s book “Muchmore the Mushroom” which her teenage daughter Carol illustrated.

Always a collector, Rose became very knowledgeable about antiques.  She gave talks on Haviland China at women’s clubs in the New York area.  She had an eye for beautiful things from the past.

She wrote wonderful letters, like this one to Sally in 1981. Who writes letters like that anymore?

Following nine years of study she began to handle appraisals and estate sales. The sales she ran were so popular dealers would park outside the night before in order to be the first ones in. In one house she found a T’ang dynasty horse stuffed in a paper bag at the back of a closet- she recognized what it was, and took it to Sotheby’s where it sold for five figures.  She was honored to be a member of the Appraisers Association of America.

The day before she moved to Medford Leas in 1993 was declared “Rose Cruikshank Day” in Chatham, and many came to say goodbye and remember all the good times.

She titled this picture "Medford Leas 'American Gothic'" at 89 July 23, 2004

She had a happy life at Medford Leas, a continuing care community in Southern New Jersey.

Rose had a great sense of humor right till the end. Convinced she was on a cruise ship for the last few years, she would say, “I’m never taking another trip like this again.”

Memorial services in Chatham and at Medford Leas are being planned for the weekend of Oct.6-7.

In lieu of flowers donations are suggested to the Medford Leas Residents Reserve Fund, sent to 1 Medford  Leas Drive, Medford, NJ 08055. This fund helps residents whose funds have been depleted and are severely in need.