Ross Catlett Rose

Ross Catlett Rose died peacefully in her sleep on September 18, 2024 at Lisbeth Health Care in Wellington, Florida. She was born in Richmond, Virginia on June 3, 1949, the oldest of the four children of Marion Buckey and Richard H. Catlett, Jr. During Ross’ early years the Catletts lived in the Fan District of Richmond and she enjoyed the comraderie of close neighbors. No doubt inspired by the westerns that were prolific in the fifties, Ross became a member of the West Avenue Posse, all local cowboys and cowgirls whose wrangling, herd driving and shootouts resulted in the epithet “Wild” being added to West Avenue. Sometime early on in her thirteen years at St. Catherine’s School, she hung up her chaps and spurs and developed into the caring, outgoing and sincere person that she would be for the rest of her life. She had an easy manor and was seemingly unaware of her good looks and charm. But they did not go unnoticed. Her four years at Mary Baldwin College were rife with weekends at Hampden-Sydney, Washington and Lee, and, of course the University of Virginia, where she met her future husband, Tanner Rose. They were married on December 30, 1971 at St. James Church in Richmond. Young Lochinvar rented a U-Haul panel truck (no warhorse available) to carry the bride and wedding gifts to New York City. As is now probably over used, moving to New York was a hinge point for Ross. She immediately stepped into an open position as an Administrative Assistant in the National Division at Chemical Bank, where she became one of the first female officers. She fell in love with the city. After four years it was time to touch base with their roots and she and her husband moved back to Richmond. Thus Charles, 1975 and Maria, 1978 were born in Virginia. Some suspect that was the reason they moved back.

Opportunities eventually led back to New York where she continued to put her heart and soul into raising Charles and Maria. It was a time when mothers and not nannies took their children to Central Park. There she made lifetime friends on the “park bench.” She was a perennial class mother at the Buckley and the Nightingale-Bamford Schools. Yes, she professionally arranged flowers, was an interior decorator, served as President of the Onteora Club in upstate New York, and enjoyed The Colony Club. However, first and foremost, she cared for her family, whether at home or away at school. And as the children grew, she made sure the doors were always open to Charles’s and Maria’s high school and college friends, becoming a mother to many. When she and her husband were empty nested, they moved to Palm Beach where she continued her interior decorating with Kemble Interiors. The driving force for her was always her love not only for Charles and his wife Nicki Rose and Maria and her husband Bailey Puntereri but also her unbounded joy in her grandchildren: Eleanor and Alexander Rose and Rosie and Ford Puntereri, all currently residing in Greenwich, Connecticut and often referred to collectively as “the Greenwich Eight”. Her husband of over fifty years, Tanner, is greatly comforted by the Greenwich Eight whom he loves and sees frequently. Ross was also survived by her three sibling: Richard H. Catlett, Thomas Y. Catlett, Marica C. Eldredge and their spouses and children. A memorial service will be held in Onteora, the community in upstate New York that she loved so much. Ross was an active member of The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach and All Souls Church in Tannersville, New York.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, CT Chapter; 200 Executive Blvd, Suite 4B, Southington, CT, 06489 or on the website www.alz.org/CT