Rose Saunders Emerick (age 88) died at Winchester Medical Center, Winchester, VA.

She was born in Winchester, Kentucky on November 25, 1919, and grew up in Frankfurt, Kentucky. She excelled in everything she undertook, including the literary arts. She attended Williams Woods Junior College in Fulton, Missouri on a scholarship. While attending William Woods, Rose brought distinction to her college through her play entitled "Quiet Acres," which placed third in the 1939 Mississippi Valley Intercollegiate Folk Play Writing Contest in competition with universities and senior colleges from many states. The play was based on her historical research of a Shaker colony that formerly existed in Kentucky. Rose earned a scholarship to attend the University of Chicago where she studied under Professor and author Norman Maclain. She graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1941.

In the first of many endeavors, Rose taught English and organized the Dramatic Club at Breathitt High School in Jackson, Kentucky. Beginning in 1944, she traveled to Washington D.C. to serve the U.S. Public Health Service, which included field work throughout West Virginia and Florida. In addition to raising her family, she worked at the University of Virginia Law School from 1952-1957 while her husband attended medical school. She was later employed by Prince William County both on the library staff and the Department of Parks and Recreation where she was instrumental in the development of various education and recreation programs for children and adults. In 1975, she began work at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. She worked under Lillian B. Miller, Ph.D., as research editor on various gallery publications, including a two volume biography of early American portrait artist, Charles Wilson Peale and his family. Rose retired in 1992 at age 72.

Rose was married to the late Dr. John W. Emerick, Jr. She was also preceded in death by her parents, Theodore U. Saunders (d. 1947), Phoebe Day Saunders (d. 1951), and sister, Dorothy M. Saunders (d. 1984). She is survived by her children, Carolyn M. Emerick of Flint Hill, Rosalie D. Lewis of Winchester, David W. Emerick (Sandra) of Warrenton, Dorothy G. Brannock (Jeff) of Leesburg, and Paul T. Emerick (Anne) of Springfield. She is also survived by seven grandsons, David W. Emerick, Jr., Michael C. Lewis, John T. Lewis, Joseph W. Brannock, Stephen E. Brannock, John W. Emerick, and Theodore U. Emerick.

She will be remembered for her sharp wit, grace, charm, strength, and devotion to friends and family.

The family will receive friends on Tuesday, March 25, 2008, from 6-8 p.m. at Colonial Funeral Home in Leesburg, Virginia. A memorial service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 26, 2008. An internment will be held in Winchester, Kentucky at a date to be determined.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made in Rose Emerick's memory to Literacy Volunteers-Winchester Area, 301 N. Cameron Street, Suite 102, Winchester, VA 22601-3900.