Madelon Louise Rosett

Rosett, Madelon Louise

Beaverton, Oregon: Madelon Louise George Rosett passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday, May 1, in Beaverton, Oregon, where she had enjoyed the last two years of her life in the loving household of her daughter, Sarah Case. Madelon's spirit, elegance, and slightly subversive sense of humor kept her young, and her presence brought great joy to her family and friends. Always gentle and gracious, she was stronger than she appeared, made out of thin, invisible steel.

Born on May 22, 1932, Madelon George lived in Brooklyn, New York, until she left to attend the University of Chicago. She finished her education at Brooklyn College and Yale University after returning to New York and marrying Richard Nathaniel Rosett in 1951. In their fifty-seven years of devoted marriage Madelon and Richard raised five children, traveled the world, and presided over a lively dinner table where family and many dear friends gathered to share stories and laughter, and to discuss and debate politics.

Madelon cherished beauty, and her love of the arts brought richness to her life. She had a keen eye for an exquisite arrangement of orchids and snapdragons; she equally relished the way Vladimir Ashkenazy played the Chopin Etudes. Having lost her beloved brother, Richard George, at an early age, she was deeply moved by the poetry of Ben Jonson. In a rather different spirit, she was also moved by the seafood served at Grand Central Station's Oyster Bar, and could devour oysters on the half shell in surprising numbers.

She is survived by her five children, Claudia, Martha, Joshua, Sarah, and Charles who were, above all else, the focus of her life; and by fifteen grandchildren in whom she took genuine and endless delight. In lieu of flowers, please donate to: Madelon Rosett Greenhouse, c/o Carolanne Marquis, Keuka College, Keuka Park, NY 14478.

We miss her, and we count ourselves blessed to have shared in her life. We say farewell to her with the closing lines of a poem she loved, by Marianne Moore:

The very bird,

grown taller as he sings, steels

his form straight up. Though he is

captive, his mighty singing

says, satisfaction is a lowly

thing, how pure a thing is joy.

This is mortality,

this is eternity.