Rose W. Cogswell

Rose Willcox Cogswell passed away on Monday , May 2, 2016 she was born in Marion, SC in July 1, 1920, the daughter of Lillian and Clarke Allen Willcox. She was the first of four daughters. Her sisters were Mary, Norma and Barbara. Her mother grew up Lillian Rose in Virginia. Her father grew up in Marion, the son of a very successful shoe salesman. He ran a grocery store. They had a house on Withlacoochee St. named after an Indian tribe, I believe. The house is still standing.

After a happy childhood in Marion, she went to Winthrop College in Rock Hill, SC majoring in music. She worked as a teacher near Charleston, SC for a year. She then went to Scarrit College, a Methodist mission school, in Nashville, TN. During one summer she went to be a waitress at a restaurant in Virginia during a church conference and got to hear Peter Marshall speak. She received her Master's degree in Religious Education from Scarrit and became a Religious Education Director in Sumter, SC.

During that time, she met Robert Earl Cogswell who was serving in the Army Air Corps at Shaw Field Air Force Base in Sumter, SC. They married but he was sent to the Aleutians for a year while she waited in Marion with her parents and sister, Barbara. She had a car they called the "Brown Bomber" that Barbara used to learn to drive. When Bob returned, in 1946, they moved to Houston, TX and began their family. Over the next 8 years, Cecile, Clark and Garrett were born. Rose started teaching elementary school music at Pilgrim Elementary and several other schools over the course of her career.

She was an accomplished pianist and singer and especially loved rehearsing for and presenting operettas and plays at Christmas and the end of the school year such as A Charlie Brown Christmas and Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado among others. She taught for more than 20 years while raising her children and attending Central church of Christ. During this time, she taught classes, provided rides and brought several abandoned young people into her home from the Drew area of Houston.

During retirement, she provided vital assistance to Bob in his work with the Christian Child Help Foundation to continue working with disadvantaged children. She worked tirelessly raising support for the foundation by running thrift stores for several years.

After Bob died, She lived with her son Clark and daughter- in-law Anna Cogswell in Pearland, Texas for 4 years. After she stopped driving in 2004, she moved to the Terrace in West University Place, an assisted living facility, to be closer to her church and friends. She took courses in poetry and writing at the University of Houston. She also supported several church ministries including Learning English by Reading the Bible at Southwest Central. She took several trips to Colorado on church retreats with her grandson Peter Cogswell.

She spent time helping new residents at the Terrace feel at home and she supported Bible Studies there. She lived there for 8 years, until she fell and broke her hip in 2012. After rehab, she move to Colonial Oaks assisted living. Despite all the physical and mental challenges she faced in the last three years, she was always gracious and content. The care staff called her the “Southern Belle” because of her smiling face, good manners and southern charm. She played the piano everyday when she could.

She left this place to be with the Lord on May 2, 2016 after her sisters and sons and grandchildren sang hymns and prayed her through. She will be sorely missed.

Visitation will be held on Friday, May 6, 2016 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Advantage Funeral Home, 7010 Chetwood Dr. Houston, Texas 77081. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2016 at 10:00 am at Southwest Central Church of Christ, 4011 W. Bellfort Ave. Houston, Texas.

Arrangements under the direction of Advantage Funeral and Cremation Services, Houston, TX.