Rose Ann Grover
1937-2015
After a tenacious fight, our mother, Rose Ann Grover, passed away with all four of her children present on October 23, 2015. She left us with specific instructions for this tribute that said she “had a great life as a mother, nurse practitioner and grandmother, sends dry kisses from her to all family and hugs to friends”; that she “did not want to die, but she had to.”
Our one-of-a-kind mother was born in Binghamton, New York to Vern Grover and Beatrice McCranie Grover, and was orphaned in 1942 at age five along with her four siblings, Louise, Martha, Leo and Nancy. The “Grover orphans” had an adventurous upbringing in Dallas, Texas with their maternal grandmother, Eulalie Poole McCranie, and with the assistance of several maternal aunts. She graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas in 1954, and then earned her nursing degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1957. In 1975, she was among the first to receive a relatively new degree as a nurse practitioner from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Being a nurse practitioner was part of our mother’s identity, and in this role she was beloved by the many patients whose lives she positively impacted. She proudly practiced until she retired at age 70. Our mother was never short on medical advice or stories, and she was the best diagnostician we ever knew.
“Momma Rose”, as she called herself alternating with “Granna” when she became a grandmother, was enormously proud of her family, and she frequently embarrassed us by telling friends and strangers of her children and grandchildren’s accomplishments. She was beloved for her irreverent humor, her unfailing generosity and kindness to all, and her extraordinary wit that kept all who knew her on their toes. She was a loving and loyal woman who had eclectic collections ranging from antique fairy lamps and art to hundreds of quartz crystals that she gathered on many digging trips to Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Rose is survived by her children and their spouses: Cindy Farach-Carson (Dan Carson), Carolyn Schanen (Jeff Twiss), Kathryn Kissam (Luke), and Timothy Schanen, and eight grandchildren: Mariana Farach (Trevor Tierney), Patrick Carson, Andrew Farach (Laura), Kevin Carson, Cole, Henry and Griffin Kissam, and Nicholas Schanen. She also is survived by four greatgrandchildren, Roman and Lola Widjaja and Natalie and Simone Farach. She is also survived by her sisters Louise Ferri and Nancy Ware and numerous nephews, a niece, and their children, and a host of friends who miss her greatly.
The family would like to thank all of mom’s many friends for their constant support and encouragement, the fantastic physicians and nurses at Houston Methodist Hospital for their loving care during her illness, and the nursing staff at Brookdale Galleria for their attention to her needs during her time there in the skilled nursing unit.
A celebration of Rose’s life will be held the 22nd of November at one o’clock in the afternoon at the Memorial Chapel at Rice University, 6100 Main Street in Houston. A private interment of her ashes will take place next year in Dallas, Texas.
In lieu of flowers, Rose asked that donations be made to the School of Nursing Scholarship program, in Memory of Rose Grover, RN Class of ’57, University of Texas Medical Branch, Development Office, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-0147 or the School of Nursing, Nurse Practitioner Program, in Memory of Rose Ann Grover, FNP, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, Office of Gift Planning, 208 West Franklin Street, Campus Box 6100, Chapel Hill 275996100.
Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning’s hush I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry; I am not there. I did not die. Mary Elizabeth Frye