Rose Taylor Salsburg passed away on July 24th, 2023 in Bowling Green, Ohio. She was 101 years old.
Rose (Hebrew name, Risha) was born on September 5th, 1921. As her granddaughter’s husband points out, this made her older than both jazz and country music.
She was born and raised in Bay City, Michigan to parents, Isadore and Sonia Taylor. Both of her parents were from Eastern Europe. Her father Isadore (Hebrew name, Ephraim Yisrael) immigrated from Pazelva (Zelva), Ukmerge, Lithuania to Bay City in 1910. After fighting for the U.S. in World War I, he was awarded citizenship and in 1920 he married Sonia Malka Berlin (Hebrew name, Shana Malka), from Vilna, Lithuania (Vilna was in Poland at the time).
Rose grew up in Bay City with her younger brother, Melvin. There was a large extended family in the area from both her mother’s and father’s sides of the family. The family spoke Yiddish at home, which Rose continued to be able to speak throughout her life. She enjoyed time with her cousins, remaining in steadfast contact with them and their descendants. She also spent free time playing the piano and going to the movies; Rose was particularly fond of musical theater productions. Rose’s father owned dry cleaning stores. In 1937, he was traveling to the neighboring town of Saginaw to open another store (so that Rose would have a place to work after graduating from high school) when he was hit by a bakery truck and killed. Rose was fifteen at the time.
Rose was remarkably bright and excelled as a student. As a child, she did not anticipate going to college, since it was unusual for girls to do so in those days; however, her intelligence, hard work, and consistency earned her several academic acclaims. She was the valedictorian of her graduating high school class, and was the only person in the school district with such a distinction to have had a perfect grade point rating not only in all four years of high school, but throughout junior high as well. The principal of her high school sent a letter to Rose’s mother, congratulating her on this outstanding academic record. She was also the subject of a number of newspaper items discussing her academic success, with one headline reading: “All ‘A’ Record is Just a Habit with Rose Taylor.” Her cousin Arnold Taylor recognized that her intelligence and diligence would qualify her for college, and was able to persuade her mother to send her. She subsequently enrolled at Michigan State University as a Home Economics major with a concentration in Foods and Nutrition.
It was while she was a first year student at MSU that she met her future husband Sidney (Sid) Salsburg, a marriage that would last 57 years. They met at a Hillel mixer in September of their freshman year. According to the story, she attended the mixer with a friend, who nudged her to look at the “good looking guy” on the other side of the room. Sid, the “good looking guy,” took an equal shine to Rose, and the two enjoyed a storied courtship.
Rose remained active in the Hillel, serving as president of the organization, and as a member of the Jewish sorority, and the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. Sid, who belonged to the Jewish fraternity organization, had been deferred from the draft until just prior to D-Day of WWII when he was activated. It was at that time (February 1943) that they decided to marry; Rose graduated in June 1943. After the war, Sid returned to MSU to complete his undergraduate work in 1946, and then went to the University of Wisconsin where he earned his PhD in Economics.
Rose and Sid had two children, Barbara and Frank. Sid’s career as a labor economist took the family around the country; they lived in Ripon, Wisconsin; Silver Spring, Maryland; Brooklyn, New York; and Southfield, Michigan in the Detroit area. Early in his career, Sid worked as a lecturer in the economics department of Ripon College. Rose and the young children famously advocated for the students in Sid’s classes, often successfully getting him to raise a few grades. Rose was a doting mother to her two children, and also a caring and devoted daughter. Rose’s mother moved in with the family due to health issues, spending the last 16 years of her life with them.
Rose was particularly fond of cats, and so in addition to raising her two human children, she was the loving mother of several fluffy animals about whom Sid wrote silly poems of devotion and adoration. Barbara and Frank were sources of great pride for the family; both children excelled at school and went on to the University of Michigan and Wright State, respectively. In addition to taking care of her family, Rose worked as both a dietician and a bookkeeper.
After Barbara and Frank went to college, Rose returned to Michigan State and completed a Master’s Degree in Family Financial Planning. Her thesis project explored family debt patterns as related to the family life cycle and socioeconomic status.
Rose’s accomplishments were myriad, but she always considered her marriage to be the most significant aspect of her life. She and Sid were very happy and lived a life full of love, joyful commitment, and prioritizing family. They exuded the values of respect, tradition, and justice, and were both incredibly progressive in their political and social views. Together they were a beacon for their families and communities, serving as a source of reliability, compassion, and morality. At a time in history when women were routinely subordinated, Sid and Rose were a model of equality; they were true partners.
Both highly intelligent and studious, Rose and Sid prioritized knowledge, particularly the study of Judaism, and the history of the Jewish people. They both considered the arts and culture to be an important aspect of being educated, and pursued enriching travel, events, and hobbies. The pair were especially interested in classical music, the theater, and poetry.
Rose and Sid’s daughter Barbara married Dan Lawrence and moved to Chicago. In 1980, when their son Frank became sick with leukemia Sid retired and they joined the family in Chicago to help care for him. Frank passed away in April 1981 at the age of 31, only months before Rose and Sid welcomed the birth of their granddaughter Sidra.
As grandparents Rose and Sid shared their great loves of music, art, poetry, dance, and study. No two people flourished more as loving, patient, compassionate grandparents. They watched Bugs Bunny cartoons, Charlie Chaplin films, and enjoyed picnics and outings together. Rose shared her special recipes, showing Sidra to make hamantashen. Rose played piano, teaching Sidra to play and sing, as well as to read Hebrew, play gently with cats, and to be organized with her toys. Sid, who loved both photography and video, captured many moments of Sidra and Rose cooking together in the kitchen (Sidra was the “helper”), reading, and playing in the park. Sidra and Rose were fond of many silly games and private jokes, and shared a special bond. When Barbara’s family moved to Dallas, Rose and Sid followed, living in Flower Mound, Texas for eighteen years.
Rose was raised in the Orthodox Jewish tradition. When her mother died she went to the synagogue every morning to say Kaddish, as is the obligation. According to Jewish law, there must be a minyan, a quorum of ten adults, in order for public prayer to occur. In the Orthodox practice, only men are counted in the minyan. Rose was offended that as a woman she could not be counted in the minyan in order to fulfill her obligation to say Kaddish for her mother, and so when it came time to select a synagogue after they moved, she chose a Reform synagogue, a community that also counts women. That is how the family became Reform.
In Texas Rose and Sid were active in their Jewish community. They were members of the Jewish Congregation of Denton County, a small congregation encompassing members from about ten small communities in the area. It was a group without a rabbi and everything was done by the members. Rose was proficient in Hebrew and it was her job to read the Haftarah on Yom Kippur. Sid served as the president of the congregation, and Barbara was the director of the Sunday school.
In 1999 Sid died of lymphoma. Though devastated by the profound loss, Rose demonstrated an extraordinary resilience of spirit. It was during this time that Barbara’s family moved to the Lake Richland Chambers area outside of Corsicana, Texas. Rose moved too so that the family could stay close together.
Rose spent time in her later years compiling and editorializing photo albums of both her family genealogy and Sid’s, and of course, their combined family. The resulting albums are treasures of family history, complete with dates, narratives, and details about the lives of her beloved relatives. Having always been a collector of newspaper clippings, wedding invitations, and souvenirs, she included these items into the albums, leaving an impressive record of the material culture of personal and family memory and history. Rose’s archival work includes such precise detail that it provides not only cherished family genealogy, but an important historical account of the lives, movements, and traditions of Jewish families during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Rose also preserved the complete correspondence, in the form of letters written in Yiddish, between her parents, who by all accounts shared a great love story. Rose’s archives include recipes from her mother’s family, also written in Yiddish, as well as her personal recipes, such as her famous “Orange-ade,” “Sid’s pancakes,” and “Matzo-balls.” Her recipe for “Barbara’s birthday cake,” has already taken on a new life. This cake, which Rose first made for Barbara on her first birthday, was passed on to Sidra, who still requests the cake every year, and will share it with her children.
The family threw a big party for Rose’s 90th birthday. Family came from far and wide for this celebration. Her advancing age never slowed her down, and she enjoyed what became a yearly tradition of welcoming family and friends for her birthday party. On the occasion of her 100th birthday, the Mayor of Athens, Texas proclaimed Rose Salsburg day in Athens.
In the last few weeks of her life, Rose made the move to Ohio to be near her granddaughter Sidra, and her daughter Barbara, who had recently moved. The three were very happy to be reunited geographically, and spent some special moments together in her last days.
Rose was preceded in death by her son Frank, her parents Isadore and Sonia, her brother Melvin, and her husband Sid. She is survived by her daughter Barbara Lawrence, granddaughter Sidra Lawrence and her granddaughter’s husband Nick Kiekenapp. She also leaves a large and loving extended family.
People often comment on Rose’s age. Who can blame them? Living to 101 is a remarkable accomplishment. But her life was extraordinary not because of its length, but rather because of its richness, its depth, and because of her truly admirable character and spirit.
In the last years of her life, she faced many health challenges, but no matter how great the setback, or how profound the challenge, she rose to meet it. Rose had a fierce and driving will to live, and yet she remained gentle, good humored, well-mannered and kind. She retained her fascination and appreciation of the world, continued to eat well and exercise, and expressed gratitude for life and its blessings. She was wise and sympathetic and capable.
Her life was exemplary. She was always gracious, compassionate, warm, brave, and loving. As a mother, a wife, a grandmother, a family member and community member, Rose demonstrated the best that was possible.
Her memory will always be a blessing.
Services will be held in Dallas, Texas at a date yet to be determined. The family asks that in lieu of flowers memorial donations be made to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (lls.org), an organization dear to Rose’s heart.
