ROSA VANTREESE LEFT SOMETHING INVALUABLE TO THE ROBBS FAMILY. IN MANY WAYS, SHE WAS THE FAMILY HISTORIAN, A GLUE THAT MAINTAINED SOME OF THE FAMILY BOND AS MEMBERS SEPARATED IN TIME AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY. EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD MOVED AWAY FROM THE SOUTHWEST, THE AREA IN WHICH MOST OF THE FAMILY REMAINED, SHE TRAVELED FREQUENTLY, VISITING WITH VARIOUS RELATIVES AS SHE WENT, CARRYING FAMILY NEWS FROM ONE GROUP TO THE OTHER. ROSA WROTE LETTERS HABITUALLY, EVEN THOUGH HER HANDWRITING WAS CRAMPED, HER GRAMMAR AND SPELLING TORTURED, HER NEWSY LETTERS KEPT VARIOUS FAMILY GROUPS APPRISED OF HAPPENINGS IN THE OTHER GROUPS. ROSA RELAYED MANY TALES OF HER PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. SHE HAD A GOOD MEMORY AND HER ORAL HISTORY WAS THE MOST CREDIBLE OF HER GENERATION. ALTHOUGH HER STORIES WERE NOT AS COLORFUL AS HER SISTER MYRTLE’S, THEY CERTAINLY APPEARED TO BE MORE FACTUAL.

     ROSA WAS ALSO AN INCESSANT SHUTTER-BUG, FROM EARLY ON, WHEN SHE OWNED A LITTLE BROWNIE CAMERAS, REPLACED AS TIME WENT ON WITH VARIOUS TYPES OF INSTAMATICS. ROSA ALWAYS SENT PICTURES WITH HER LETTERS. AS SHE BECAME OLDER HOWEVER, ROSA’S CAMERA DEVELOPED A PECULIAR PROBLEM. THE CAMERA TENDED TO CHOP OFF THE TOPS OF PEOPLES HEADS. EVEN THOUGH SHE BOUGHT A NEW CAMERA, FOR SOME REASON, THE SAME PROBLEM, HEADLESS PEOPLE, CONTINUED TO OCCUR.

     FOR MORE THAN TWENTY-FIVE YEARS (THE LAST HEARS OF HER LIFE) ROSA VANTREESE LIVED IN A TINY TRAILER IN A SMALL MOBILE HOME PARK IN OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON. THIS TINY HOME CONTAINED AN INCREDIBLE COLLECTION OF THINGS, ODD AND MUNDANE. THESE WERE THE SOUVENIRS OF ROSA’S LIFE. THE COUNTERS IN HER BEDROOM AND BATHROOM WERE COVERED WITH JEWELRY AND COSMETICS. WHEN ROSA LEFT THE FARM, SHE ALSO LEFT BEHIND THE DRAB , DOWDY LOOK OF THE COUNTRY HOUSEWIFE. FOR THE REMAINDER OF HER LIFE, SHE ENJOYED COSTUME JEWELRY AND MAKE-UP AND ALWAYS HAD LARGE COLLECTIONS OF BOTH. IN THOSE YEARS, ROSA HAD AN ACTIVE SOCIAL LIFE, CENTERED AROUND THE OLYMPIA SENIOR CITIZEN CENTER, THEY HAD POT-LUCKS, DANCES AND OTHER SOCIAL EVENTS.

     THE LANDSCAPING AROUND HER TRAILER HOME WAS UNIQUE TO ROSA, SHE HAD MADE A PATH, A WALKWAY, OF BOTTLE CAPS. THIS SMALL WALKWAY REPRESENTED YEARS OF COLLECTING BOTTLE CAPS AND THE TEDIOUS WORK OF IMPLANTING THEM INTO THE GROUND. THERE WAS ALSO A ROCK GARDEN AREA, ACCENTED BY COLORFUL BOTTLES INSTEAD OF FLOWERS. SOME WERE FRAGMENTS OF BOTTLES AND SOME WERE WHOLE BOTTLES UP-ENDED ON STICKS. ROSA HAD IMAGINATION AND ALSO A VERY GREEN THUMB. THERE WERE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS OF MANY VARIETIES AROUND HER HOME; POPPIES, VIOLETS AND VIOLAS AND MANY OTHERS. SHE ALSO HAD GRAPE-VINES AND BERRY BUSHES. IN JULY OF 1995, ROSA CAME BACK TO COLORADO ON HER FIRST PLANE RIDE. SHE VISITED HER CHILDREN IN THE SAN LUIS VALLEY AND JOINED VIOLA NOYES AND FAMILY FOR THE YEARLY GET- TOGETHER ON THE FOURTH OF JULY AT WALSH, COLORADO. WHEN SHE RETURNED TO THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, SHE WAS TOO ILL WITH HEART AND BREATHING PROBLEMS TO LIVE BY HERSELF. THE LAST FEW MONTHS OF HER LIFE WERE SPENT IN A NURSING HOME IN PUYALLUP, WASHINGTON. SHE DIED ON DECEMBER 4, 1995, AND IS BURIED AT THE OLYMPIC MEMORIAL GARDENS AT TUMWATER, WASHINGTON. HER FUNERAL WAS A QUIET, TASTEFUL CEREMONY ARRANGED BY THE CLELANDS.

     HOW DOES ONE SUM UP A LIFE? PARTICULARLY, HOW DO YOU SUM UP THE LIFE OF SUCH AN ORDINARY PERSON WHO WAS, STILL YET, SO UNIQUE? ROSA LIVED FOR NINETY-FOUR YEARS. SHE PRODUCED THREE SONS WHO WERE QUINTESSENTIAL “SALT-OF-THE-EARTH” HARD-WORKING AMERICANS. SHE LEFT BEHIND GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN. ROSA EXPERIENCED LIFE FULLY; EARLY TRAUMATIC LOSSES, DEPRIVATION AND PAIN, HAPPINESS AND GOOD TIMES, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, LOVE, ADVENTURE, AND A LONG AND PURPOSEFUL OLD AGE. SHE WAS A FLAWED AND YET DECENT PERSON AS MOST OF US ARE, A TOUGH SURVIVOR WITH A REAL STRENGTH ABOUT HER, A STRENGTH MADE UP OF STUBBORNNESS AS MUCH AS ANYTHING ELSE. THAT STUBBORNNESS WAS IN SOME WAY HER MOST ADMIRABLE QUALITY. SHE SEEMED DETERMINED TO LIVE A LIFE ACCORDING TO HER OWN DESIGN, AND IN THAT SHE WAS CERTAINLY SUCCESSFUL.

 

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