Rose D. Lovell

Rose Lovell was the ultimate glamour girl. How glamorous? She was never once seen in a pair of jeans during her 89 adventurous years of life on this earth. Even as she took her last breath, peacefully at home with her children, she wore a skirt! Her signature pink lipstick was always as near as her Bible.

What made Rose Lovell a truly remarkable woman was that her God-given beauty was matched only by her substance. She was a Proverbs 31 woman who knew with fiery intensity that “beauty was vain,” but that life would be fullest and best when lived “in fear of the Lord.”

Rose’s full life began at Syndenham Hospital in Harlem, New York, born on November 20, 1930, to a mother who had been orphaned as a child. Often coquettishly referring to herself as an “Island Girl” – the island being Manhattan, and nearly as bold as she – Rose fully engaged anyone and anything that crossed her path. Enthusiasm was her thing in this life. She lived with passion, from her marriage of 65 years to her beloved Ray, to her lioness role as a mother, to her insatiable desire for adventure and travel. As a young woman, she was a seaplane pilot, a beauty-pageant winner, and a fashion model. And Rose was wired for design: with her husband and children, she shared a love of the building, development, and real estate business.

Rose was always the merest hint away from packing a suitcase and taking a trip. She and Ray were globetrotters and, among their vacations, they were blessed to cruise around the world together five times. Even in Rose’s final days, her wanderlust was not diminished: she wanted to go to China to see the recently discovered pyramids!

In addition to these and many other adventures around the globe, Rose and Ray greatly enjoyed boating, naming their first vessel Victory, a subtle reference to personal triumphs of faith, hard work, and perseverance. Boating was an adventure they often shared with their children and grandchildren, and these moments are a bequest of love and incredible memories.

Rose, like her husband, was deeply patriotic and, with Ray, she hosted countless campaign events for candidates on whose behalf they worked tirelessly. She believed that this Republic and our liberty were God-given treasures, and like many treasures, were fragile and needed active safeguarding. She lived by the Edmund Burke precept that evil triumphed when good men did nothing. Rose ignored the “polite” stricture against discussing politics and religion; instead, she persistently preached the virtue of eternal vigilance. She did this to the chagrin of many an unwittingly apathetic citizen, often clinching her argument with the gift of Gary Allen’s None Dare Call It Conspiracy. Yes, she loved a good spar.

But this red-headed proto-feminist also relished soft and fine things. She was a lover of music and was self-taught on the piano. She loved Jesus and desired to share the Good News of the Gospel, sending Scripture-laden Easter and Christmas cards for over 60 years. She was a voracious reader – especially of theology and alternative medicine. Many friends fondly recall their gifts of “Dr. Rose’s” health articles!

To know her was to remember her – she was unforgettable. Her greatest hope, which she stated so often, was that her children would know the Lord, and her greatest joy was that they did. It is her children’s great joy to have the Blessed Assurance that she is now in heaven with Jesus.

Besides her sister Alice Ellis, who survives her, Rose will live on in the loving and harmonious unity of her children, Raymond (Judy), Harold (Cheryl), Gloria (Larry), Rose Ann and Bill, nine grandchildren, and two great granddaughters, and in the countless lives of those she enriched on this earth.

We will celebrate Rose Lovell on Thursday, July 9, 2020, at

10:30 a.m. at First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale.

Flowers will be accepted by Fred Hunter’s Funeral Home, 718 S. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316.

In memory of Rose Lovell, donations are welcome at www.RZIM.org to continue the vital ministry of Ravi Zacharias and also to First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale at www.firstbaptistftl.com.