Dr. Rose Jr.

Madison - Dr. James W. Rose died December 23 at the age of 81.

Jim Rose grew up the son of James W. Rose, a small town doctor and farmer, and Maude Dunn Rose, violinist, pianist, and church organist in Pikeville, NC. He was an avid teller of tales about milking the cow every morning, coon hunting with cousins, and playing baseball with cow-pie bases in his small town. While at the University of North Carolina, Jim fell in love and married Sarah Ann van Weyk from Winnetka, IL. They had two beloved children, Susan and David.

Dr. Rose graduated from the University of North Carolina Medical School in Chapel Hill. After completing his internship and first year residency in St Louis, he returned to UNC to finish his training in Internal Medicine. He served as a physician in the Air Force for 2 years at Shepard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, and then came to Madison with his family to join the Dean Clinic in 1970. Dr. Rose's practice as an internist grew over the next 35 years, where he was a beloved physician. He was a careful listener and gave his patients the time required to understand and diagnose the root causes of their issues. He loved the role of physician and felt the privilege of the position. Patients would light up when he entered the room, and he would hold their hand with both of his.

Jim returned to the land whenever he could. He bought a small valley outside Madison that the family called "the farm" and would escape there most weekends. With his family, he designed a cabin, sheds, a pond, maintained a network of trails through the woods, and orchestrated periodic tree harvests. Most weekends they would drive home late, singing old camp songs while pulling burrs and ticks off their golden retriever.

Jim and Sarah became members of Bethel Lutheran Church, where he particularly enjoyed singing in the choir.

When Dr. Rose retired 20 years ago, he and Sarah found a peninsula on a lovely lake, which they called Birch Point, and built a cabin, where they have hosted friends and family with a flotilla of boats and enough snowshoes for a crowd.

After retirement, he wrote poetry, played tuba in a band, spent time Up North, eagerly participated in book groups, and was always reading, learning, and engaged. He enjoyed traveling with Sarah and also with a hiking group that strikes out every year on some fantastic adventure to the Italian Dolomites, the Highlands of Scotland, and beyond.

As grandkids "finally" came along, he delighted in every stage of their growth: teaching them how to fish, to swim before breakfast and after dinner, to design a killer scavenger hunt with poetic inscrutable riddles, and to adore the splendor of nature that God has given us.

He will be dearly missed by his wife of 59 years, Sarah; son David and daughter-in-law Sharon; daughter Susan and son-in-law Bob; grandchildren Molly, Jim, Rayna, and Adam; sister Dot Borden; and in-laws Beth and Larry Minear and Gretchen and Alan Wiedie.

Those wishing to honor Jim are welcome to donate to St. Mary's Hospital, American Players Theatre, or take a healing walk in the woods.

A memorial service will be held at 3:00 PM on Sat Jan 6, 2018 at BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH, 312 Wisconsin Ave. Madison. A visitation will be from 1:00 until the time of the service at the church on Sat.

Cress
Funeral and Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road Madison
608-238-3434
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www.CressFuneralService.com