Rose A Beals

Rose Anne Beals passed away peacefully in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey on Friday, June 29, 2018 at the age of 102.

She was born in Bay City, Michigan, on May 17, 1916 to Julia Sebok Maglosky (1882-1966) and George L. Maglosky (1880-1970).

In 1906, her parents married in Pitvaros, Austria-Hungary. The following year George Maglosky boarded a ship to America from Zagreb, Yugoslavia, with Julia following six months later. After spending two weeks in steerage with a nine-month-old baby, they settled in Cleveland, which at one time had the largest population of Hungarians outside of Budapest.

When Rose’s father lost an eye in the steel mills, the family left town, trading two homes for a sugar beet farm in Michigan. Four years later, severe flooding and the loss of all their belongings sent them back to Cleveland with three children and a new baby girl - Rose Beals.

Rose is survived by her daughter, Nancy Wise, and her husband Richard, of Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, and Janet Beals Orejudos and her husband Gilbert, of Charlottesville, Virginia.

She is also survived by her grandson, Evan Jensen Wise of Brooklyn; three step-grandchildren, Stephen Ronald Orejudos, William Gilbert Orejudos, Lisa JoAnne Orejudos Morris; six step-great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews and their children.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bird Prosser Beals and by her 3 older siblings, George E. Maglosky, Mary A. Jarosi and Elizabeth E. Carter; and a nephew, Alexander Jarosi.

The Maglosky’s were a hard-working family. In Austria-Hungary, Julia worked in a sugar beet factory. George was a farmer, then a soldier in Emperor King Franz Josef’s cavalry. In America, Rose’s mother was a knitter and designer in a sweater factory and her father was a mechanic, a steelworker, gardener, handyman and a farmer.

Rose grew up in Cleveland’s Shaker Heights neighborhood. She was a bright student as well as a latch key kid. In 1921, she skipped from kindergarten to the last half of first grade; six years later she skipped seventh grade. She loved drama and played the lead in school plays all through elementary school, culminating with the lead role of Mary in Mary’s Secret Garden.

Rose graduated from Cleveland’s John Jay High School in 1937. She was a member of the National Merit Society and was on the Honor Roll thirteen consecutive times. She was the first in her family to attend college, graduating from Spencerian College in 1939 with a major in business. She also attended Cleveland College, studying art, French, Spanish, psychology, interior decorating, travel, commercial law and business.

Her first jobs were as a housemaid, behind the Woolworth’s counter (for $12.50 a week), and as a bakery worker (at 50 cents an hour), starting at age 16. She spent many years as Executive Secretary

in a variety of businesses and often was promoted to management. She was one of the first women to take a Bank Teller position at the Cleveland Bank and Trust. It was during this time that strikers asked for and received a 40-hour work week.

A coworker at The Cleveland Trust, Ellen Beals, convinced Rose to write to her brother, Bird Beals, who served in Tonga with the Navy Seabees in World War II. By May 1943, they were engaged. They married in Cleveland in November 1945 at Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church.

In 1946, Rose and Bird honeymooned in Pompano Beach, Florida, where Bird’s parents offered them land to build their first home. Janet Lee Beals (Orejudos) was born in 1947; Nancy Ellen Beals (Wise) was born in 1950. Moving to Fort Lauderdale to raise their children, they stayed for 25 years. Rose and the entire family were active in Grace Lutheran Church. Bird was a painting contractor and decorator and Rose held a variety of business positions.

In 1972, she went to work for the developer, Gould, Inc. At the request of her employer, the family moved to West Palm Beach in the late 70’s to help create Palm Beach Polo and the town of Wellington. Promoted from Executive Secretary to Director of Sales and Service Administration, she named streets, supervised collections of $4.5 million and helped the owner develop the internationally known polo and equestrian center.

In 1981, Rose’s husband passed away from lung cancer. In 1985, she retired at age 69, moving to Naples, Florida. After her sister Mary Jarosi passed away in 2001, Rose moved to New Jersey to be near her daughter’s family. She lived at The Terraces in Little Egg Harbor for the past five years.

Rose traveled to 55 countries, from the Philippines to Russia, and from Alaska to South America. Her first trip was to Europe in 1968, and her final trips were to Norway and Bermuda in the 1990’s. She climbed the Mexican pyramids, rode a camel past the Sphinx, was left on an Alaska glacier, sailed through the Panama Canal, waded in Israel’s Dead Sea, crawled through tunnels inside Egyptian pyramids and flew into Manila during a hurricane.

She was an accomplished painter and watercolorist, winning prizes throughout the State of Florida for her work. She also raised orchids. She was an active club woman for over 25 years, holding a variety of positions at the Federated Woman’s Clubs in several cities and states. She was an active member of Zonta International, a service organization that advanced the status of women.

Rose spent many summers at her camp in Lake Pleasant, New York, in the southern Adirondacks.

A celebration of Rose’s life will be held at a memorial service at a future date at the Thos. L. Shinn Funeral Home in Manahawkin. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to St. Theresa’s Food Bank, 450 Radio Road, Little Egg Harbor, 08087 or the Open Studio Project, 903 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois, 60202 (www.openstudioproject.org).

Later this year, Rose’s ashes will be interred at a private service at the Maglosky family gravesite at Lutheran Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

To leave online condolences for the family, please visit www.shinnfuneralhome.com