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Rose May Obituary
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Rose was preceded in passing by her parents and her sister, Mary Beth May. She is survived by her life partner of 52 years Ruth Harding, several cousins that remained close to her over the years: Sue Anne (Mettel) Lauzen, Dorothy (Mettel) Weber and her husband, Fred Schroeder, and Thomas P. (Sandy) Mettel, as well as extended family.
Rose grew up in Marywood, attended Madonna High School in Aurora and was a member of the school's last graduating class in 1968. She was a gifted musician and loved math. She was employed as Information Technology manager at Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company in Geneva, IL for many years.
Rose possessed a sense of humor second only to her smile. She was able to light up a room just by walking through the door and was the life of the party and always made people laugh. Rose will be sorely missed.
A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 11 AM, at the New England Congregational Church UCC, 406 West Galena Boulevard, Aurora, IL 60506. A visitation will immediately precede the service, from 9 AM to 11 AM. In lieu of flowers, donations in Rose's name can be made to New England Congregational Church at https://www.newenglandchurch.org. For more information or to sign the online guestbook, call 630-897-9291 or visit HealyChapel.com
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Rose, please visit our floral store.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
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Vicki Harding
March 14, 2025
Some of my earliest memories of family are visits from Ruth and her father (my grandfather). My name is Vicki Ruth, and Ruth is my aunt. So when we were kids we both thought I was named for her, although my mother later explained I was actually named for my grandmother.
I was so happy for Ruth when she found the love of her life in Rose. I always enjoyed seeing them. For a number of years this included yearly get togethers in Baytown during the local Relay for Life.
As Alicia so eloquently described, Rose was a lovely person. I expect the easiest way to express my thoughts about Rose is to say double ditto!
Dr Seuss got it right when he said: "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
With all my love, Vicki (Ruth) Harding
Alicia Harding
March 14, 2025
"A gifted musician that loved math"...such highly intelligent and interesting woman that was clearly using both sides of her brain in a way not many of us do. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Rose on our yearly visits to Baytown for the relay. What really stuck out to me was her genuine joy for life and constant smile. Even when she wasn´t obviously smiling, her eyes always were. She approached life in an un-rushed manner to the point that she seemed truly present in each moment. Rose was blessed to have such a special and unique partnership with Ruth...when I think of relationship goals that we all might strive to emulate, this couple is at the top of the list. Ruth and Rose had such an incredible and strong union that it was sometimes hard to tell where one of them ended and the other began. Coming into the family, I would often question Chris as to which one was actually related. I´m not entirely sure if he didn´t know or more likely it simply didn´t matter...they were always "Ruth & Rose."
With love and our sincere condolences,
Alicia Harding and family, Chris, Adria & Reese
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332 W. Downer Place, Aurora, IL 60506
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