Rosa Carter Hughes

Rosa Hughes, 81, died of a heart attack in Montgomery, Alabama, on Oct. 31, 2023.

Rosa was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1942, to Henry Clay and Dorothy Wallace Carter. Beginning at age 6, Rosa’s formative years were shaped by the loving and caring family at Boles Home, a Christian children’s home in East Texas. It was while singing in the Home’s traveling chorus that she caught the eye of her future life-partner and husband, David Hughes. They faithfully walked hand-in-hand for 61 years.

Rosa and David’s daughters Julie and Lorie each held a special place in her heart. The daughters married, and Rosa joyfully made room in her heart for an extended family that now included sons-in-law Philip Berube and Randal Rodgers. With the addition of grandchildren Matthew, Rachel and Kaylee, Rosa happily found plenty of time to prepare special treats and laze many days away with them at the pool. Her heart overflowed even more with the birth of her first great-grandchild Bill in early 2023, born to Rachel and Sam Ford.

Rosa’s joy and fulfillment were found in loving her God by serving her family, her friends and especially strangers from all walks of life. She shared the love of God with all she knew and did not know. Rosa expressed her compassion for everyone in the simplest of ways – sharing conversation with the cashiers (whom she knew by name) at the grocery store, making friends with food servers and sharing words of joy, peace and light with those whom she came into daily contact. Fittingly, her final words before going to be with God in His Glory were with her hospital nurse about the faith they shared.

Rosa loved and appreciated the simple things in life. She took much delight in watching the many hummingbirds visiting her carefully tended feeders, caring for the blossom of colors growing in her yard, making flower arrangements for special events, cooking for anyone who graced her doorway and soundly defeating her opponents in a rousing game of Canasta or dominos. She was quick to shed her calming and unimposing demeanor when locked in battle at the game table.

Having learned to sew at Boles Home, Rosa found a creative care-giving outlet in sewing clothes for herself and her children, and quilts for babies and family members.

The mosaic of Rosa’s life was stitched together by her outward expression of the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. She was and continues to be a model of how to love God with all your heart and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. She spent her life looking at the beauty of God’s creation, both in other people and in nature, and can now rest in God’s eternal beauty.

Words cannot express how much Rosa will be missed.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Valiant Cross Academy in Montgomery at www.valiantcross.org.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.WhiteChapel-GreenwoodFH.com for the Hughes family.