Rose Wilkinson Costain

Rose Wilkinson Costain, died Thursday, December 4, 2008. She was born on March 14, 1923, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of the late James Gordon Wilkinson and Rose Stam Wilkinson. She married John Kendall Costain, in Salt Lake City, November 22, 1956, Thanksgiving Day. She completed two years of college at the University of Utah and Virginia Tech. She worked as an administrative assistant in the Department of Surgery at the University of Utah, and after moving to Virginia, in the Department of Statistics at Virginia Tech from 1975 through 1992, when she retired.
"My husband, family and extended family have been my dearest blessings."
She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Alice Wilkinson Tustison and Hope Wilkinson; brother, J. Gordon Wilkinson; and niece, Susan Tustison Mudrock, all of Salt Lake City, Utah.
She is survived by her husband of 52 years, Dr. John Kendall Costain, professor emeritus of geophysics at Virginia Tech; a daughter, Caroline Rose Costain Muller, of Pulaski; two sons and a daughter-in-law, John Gordon Costain and Barbara McGrath Costain, of Richmond, and James Earle Costain, of Blacksburg; three grandsons, Sgt. Christian John Muller of the United States Army, stationed in Germany and his wife, Val, James Erik Muller, of Radford, a student at Radford University, Nash Thomas Costain, of Richmond; and one granddaughter, Erin Rose Costain, of Richmond; her sister, Joan Wilkinson Ray and husband, Dr. Esten Ray, of Laramie, Wyoming; two nieces, Sharon Tustison Magana and her husband, Dave Magana, of Hurricane, Utah; Laura Ray Moncrief, and her husband, Kirk Moncrief, of Salt Lake City; a nephew, Nelson Patrick Tustison, of Salt Lake City; and a nephew-in-law, Gary Mudrock, of Salt Lake City; several grandnieces and nephews; several greatgrandnieces and nephews; one great-great-grandniece; and one great-greatgrandnephew. Also surviving are the Fall family of Cromwell, Conn.; special cousins, Wili Doyle Pierce and her husband, Don, of Los Angeles, Calif., Shirley Wilkinson and her late husband, Dale Wilkinson, of Salt Lake City; and also many dear and loyal friends who know who they are. Thank you all.
Honorary pallbearers are Dave Magana, Jim Muller, Chris Muller, Kurt Moncrief, Evan Robinson, of Salem, Dean Trimble, of Blacksburg, and James Cummins, of Bozeman, Mont.
Chris Barrett will conduct the memorial service in celebration of Rose's life on Monday, December 8, 2008, at 1:30 p.m. in the War Memorial Chapel on the Virginia Tech campus.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be given to the Blacksburg Rescue Squad, 200 Progress St., Blacksburg, Va. 24060. Arrangements by McCoy Funeral Home, Blacksburg.
This obituary was originally published in the Roanoke Times.