Dr. Fred Rose

Dr. Fred W. Rose was born March 22, 1874 in Georgetown, Ontario, Canada.  Following his graduation from the Chicago College of Dental Surgery in 1896 and after practicing in Chicago, Illinois and Fargo, North Dakota, he came to Cooperstown in 1898.

Dad always told us Cooperstown was a very small, quaint, quiet picturesque town but with an air of friendliness, gaiety and hospitality.

He was single when he first came to Cooperstown and made his home at the Palace Hotel where he enjoyed cards, billiards and pool and just plain talk after a busy day.  (The six-dollar a week room and board was most enticing.)

At this time our Dad did not have an office.  He traveled by horse and buggy to Edgeley, Lisbon, LaMoure, Hope and other villages with a portable dental chair and equipment.

After building up a little reserve, he returned to Canada and married Emma Hewer in 1904.  They made the long trip to North Dakota by train.  Being very tired after many hours of travel, mother asked the conductor, "Just where is Cooperstown, " and fie replied, "My dear lady it is just beyond Hope."  This was a shock to mother and she put her head on dad's shoulder, shedding a few tears.

Dad practiced 54 years in Cooperstown.  He held every office in the State Dental Association and became the Dean of North Dakota dentists.

Giving the best dental care possible, every day, pleased him the most.  Over 70, 000 patients were treated and he loved each one.  During his first years, extractions were only 500 and these he did any time of the day or night.

In his leisure time, he was a great hunter and fisherman and enjoyed golf.

Mother said she soon learned to love Cooperstown.  There were not many things she could not do.  Besides being a great wife and Mother, she had a beautiful voice and as the years went by she sang at most of the weddings and funerals in our church for 50 years.

Indeed she kept up with Dad too and was the first President of the State Dental Association Women's Auxiliary and its sweetheart every year after.

We are the daughters of Dr. Fred and Emma Rose, in name, Frances and Eugenia.

Frances was born July 10, 1907 and Eugenia April 2, 1910, in our home at Cooperstown.

Our growing up years there were great.  We had the finest schools with excellent teachers in all grades.  Extra curricular activities included debates, speech contests, gym shows, school plays, basketball, cheerleading, picnics, parties, etc. etc.  On cold days after school we went "catching Bobs" on the roads packed hard with snow.  (Really not allowed but such fun.)

We can never forget our Church, Sunday School, Christian Endeavor and Confirmation.  The many Church dinners and programs.  Christmases never to be forgotten because of the huge tree that was lit with candles.  Every child received a present and a bag of candy and nuts.  This was the one winter night we could go out without wearing our long winter underwear.

Our summers were a delight, from the time of making mud pies, playing dolls, picnics on Vinegar Hill, picking choke cherries, beating rugs during house cleaning time, going down town on a Saturday night and having an ice cream cone, to going to the Griggs County Fair days!

We graduated from Cooperstown High School in 1925 and 1927.

After graduation our lives varied.  Frances attended the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks for 2 years and then entered the Evanston Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1931.  Her nursing career included private duty, office nursing and Public Health.  She married in 1933, has a daughter Sara, now Mrs. Dave Spencer of Longview, Washington.  She was married a second time in 1964 to Mr. Frank Davis and they now reside in Kennewick, Washington.

Eugenia entered Northwestern Dental School and received her Dental Hygiene degree in 1928.  Following this she took nursing and graduated from the Evanston Hospital in 1933.  She married and had three children: 

1.     Margaret, now Mrs. Gerald Monteith, Germany

2.     Freddra, now Mrs. Lyle Piggott, Waterloo, Iowa

3.     Robert Burr, Seattle, Washington. 

Following her first husband's death she moved to Fargo, North Dakota and worked in Public Health for 26 years.  In 1969 she married her cousin, Mr. Charles Rose and they now reside in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

We always love to return to Cooperstown, a real home town, never to be forgotten.

Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976  Page 77