Rosalind Kress Haley

Rosalind Kress Haley, 97, a tireless advocate for the free enterprise system and widow of the late Texas historian J. Evetts Haley, died early Wednesday at Midland Memorial Hospital.

Rosary will be said at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 27, 2008, at Ellis Funeral Horne with visitation from 6-8 p.m. A requiem mass is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. Michael's Catholic Church. A graveside service will be held Wednesday, April 30, in the Kress Family Plot at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Ga.

Born at home at the Chatsworth Apartments at 72nd Street and Riverside Drive in New York City on July 21, 1910, Rosalind Elaine Kress was the youngest daughter of Claude Washington Kress of Slatington, Lehigh Co., Pennsylvania, and his wife, Francesca Agatha Sheehan of Atlanta, Georgia. Ros, as she was known to her many friends, was raised in New York City and on Buckfield Plantation at Yemassee, S.C. She attended Sacred Heart Convent in Canada, Miss Spence's School in New York, New York University and the Art Students' League.

Ros was married in 1935 to Charles Wesley Frame of Philadelphia, Pa., and they resided in Utica, N.Y., prior to purchasing and returning to Buckfield Plantation in 1942 where they worked and raised their three sons.

Subsequently, Ros lived in downtown Savannah (first on East Harris Street and then on East Congress Street) where she was active in the early historic preservation movement. For sixteen years she owned and operated Hitching Post Fine Foods, a manufacturing and gift business with gift shops in The Pirate's House and the old Desoto Hotel.

In 1959 Ros became increasingly concerned about the growth of centralized government and the threat of Communism and she began to devote her time to defeating socialism in America, using the credo her father had taught her: "Seek the truth and make it known." In 1961 she was one of nine women to organize the Savannah Area Republican Women at its first meeting.

Together with two Savannah businessmen Kenneth Roberts and Carl Wheeler, she started Doorstep Savannah, an organization the purpose of which was public education through Americanism programs. Doorstep Savannah offered a library of books, government pamphlets, movie films and tape recordings along with a speakers' bureau.

Ros had her own radio program for several years and spoke on topics of public interest. She testified before committees of both Houses of Congress and addressed the Platform Committee of the 1964 Republican National Convention in an effort to preserve the McCarran-Walter Immigration Law. In 1965, she received the Freedom Award of the Order of Lafayette for distinguished service in combating communism. Savannah residents gave a dinner in her honor with testimonials from both Republicans and Democrats.

Ros was an alternate delegate from Georgia to the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach in 1968. She was appointed to the Chatham County Board of Education by Mayor J. Curtis Lewis. She served on the advisory board of the Georgia chapter of Young Americans for Freedom and founded and served as chairman of the East Coast Youth Freedom speakers, an organization of high school and college men and women who gave speeches voicing pride in America.

In 1970, Ros was married to author and cattleman J. Evetts Haley, of Midland, Texas, who was known as the "Historian of the Southwest" and whom she met at the Miami Convention. Ros moved to Texas and together with her husband remained politically active, serving as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Detroit in 1980. In 1975 she established the conservative Rosalind Kress Haley Research Library, Inc. which is now located in the Eagle Forum Building in St. Louis, Mo. It is open to researchers upon request. She was an appointee by President Reagan to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). During that period, Ros authored a Minority Report which was adopted and influenced the United States to withdraw from membership in UNESCO.

Ros was a member of the Lt. William Brewer Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the Midland Republican Women, and the John Birch Society.

Ros is pre-deceased by her parents, husbands, sisters Elizabeth (Betty) Margaret Kress Huger Jack and Beatrice Agatha Kress, and her infant daughter, Noel Collette Frame. She is survived by her three sons, Alexander "Sandy" M. Frame of New York City, N.Y., Peter C. Frame of Tazewell, Va. and Christopher K. Frame of Savannah, Ga., and their wives as well as six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, two nephews and numerous cousins.

Memorials may be directed to St. Michael's Church, 3001 Golf Course Road, Midland, Texas 79705, or to the Rosalind Kress Haley Library Inc., 7800 Bonhomme Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63105.

A special thank you is extended to Dr. Gregory Bartha, Mrs. Haley's longtime physician, for his devotion in treating her, to the Hospice nurses who cared for her in her final days and to her devoted caretakers, Felicia Villafranco, Marie Greer and Alicia Munoz.