Rose Kirkwood

It was 1929 - the year the Great Depression began - when Kirkwood, then 23 took a two- week boat ride from Germany to New York City, where a $35 coat gave her the unwavering idea that opportunity awaited her.

"She started out as a housekeeper and was able to buy that coat after a week's worth of work," her grandson Joe Haakenson said. "In Germany, it would take her a month to make that much money. Even though it was the Depression, it was still economically a place for more opportunity.

"It was not easy, so for her to survive and thrive was pretty impressive," he added.

Kirkwood died Thursday at El Descanso Retirement Home in Covina . She was 106.

"She was a survivor", said Haakenson, 50. "She's a tough lady just to live that long."

Born February 10, 1906, in a small town in Germany, Kirkwood was the youngest of 12 children.

In 1929, she took a boat to New York Harbor on a whim, only planning to stay for a few days, family members said. " She was a very great lady and hard worker", Kirkwood's daughter, Rose Marie Haakenson 75 said. "She had her own mind. She did what she wanted to do and you were lucky if she let you help her." And even the journey here was no easy ride - the boat she was traveling on got stuck on a sandbar.

"It was emblematic of her whole life" Joe Haakenson said. "She faced obstacles, one after another, starting out as a child. They didn't have a lot, but she persevered all the through her life."

While in New York, Kirkwood worked as a housekeeper and at Schrafft's candy and chocolate company in Manhattan, where she met her future husband, Robert.

Rose Marie Haakenson described her mother as very strict, a trait that emanated from her strong and fiercely independent personality.

"Mother was in charge," she said. "That's it. Mother did it her way, and you did it her way too."

Kirkwood and her husband moved to Covina in the mid-1950's to be near their daughter and grandchildren.

"I always remember as a kid growing up, we did not want to do anything wrong when she was around," Joe Haakenson said. "We had a respectful fear for her discipline, and I think that goes along with her personality as to how enduring she was in her life."

Kirkwood is survived by her two children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

"She's a remarkable woman," Joe Haakenson said. "She's a tough tough broad."