Rose and her parents, Roy and Elizabeth, had relocated to Saugus, Massachusetts, to be near their older daughter, Lea, and their grandchildren, Oliver and Asher. Rose was born disabled and used a wheel chair. I formed a special bond with the family since I had a disabled son, Jimmy, and was head of the disabled committee at our church. 

When the family lived in Mahwah, N.J., Linda Berndt and I would go to their house and spend time with Rose while Roy and Elizabeth went out to eat. I still get Christmas cards from the family with pictures of the family and Rose had never looked better.  

Since Rose had a very rare condition, it took a long time before she was diagnosed. The name of her condition is DES, which occurs when the grandmother, Elizabeth’s mother, takes something prescribed by a doctor, to avoid the possibility of a miscarriage, even though there is no problems with her pregnancy. It’s ironic that Elizabeth isn’t the one who became disabled, but one of her offspring did.  

It was a total shock to me when I learned that Rose had died. She had been admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston because of a twisted colon and had liver failure after the operation. Then she was flown by helicopter to another hospital. Roy and Elizabeth met her there the next morning where she was in the ICU unit on a breathing tube. But no measures could save her.  

All this reminded Roy of a happier time when Rose went up in a hot air balloon with him and she loved it. Another thrill for her was when she went down the aisle in her wheel chair as her sister’s maid of honor.

No family could have treated Rose better than the one she was born into.