Kenneth Wayne Rose

On February 3, the archives community lost a friend and champion. The Rockefeller Archive Center lost its heart and soul. I lost a friend and mentor. Ken Rose, who served as Assistant to the Director when I worked at the Archive Center, left us behind to wonder how to continue on.

Last night, I went with a colleague from the Archive Center, who now lives here in the DC area as well to the service in Ken's hometown of Winchester, VA. It was a wonderful service, one that I think Ken would have accepted, although he did not like being the center of attention.

I dreamed of Ken last night. Over the weekend, after having learned of Ken's passing, I was searching for a "Ken story" that I could share. I became frustrated with myself that I couldn't come up with something specific. As I was traveling with a colleague to the memorial service yesterday evening, I came to the realization that is just how Ken was. Many of the successes that I had at the Archive Center were because of Ken. He was the type of individual that would stand behind you and push you forward. He was a listener, a deep thinker. I cannot count the number of afternoons I spent in his office, sitting on the couch in his office, while he sat behind an enormous desk that had come to the Center from the Commonwealth Fund, as we would talk about everything, family, friends, archives, history, baseball. There was no end to the subjects on which Ken could conduct a great conversation.

In my dream last night (one that I only sort of remember), Ken was not a vivid presence, he was for me, as he was in life, standing there off to the side, watching, listening. He was being Ken. As I write this, Ken has been laid to rest in Virginia. The words that were offered in comfort yesterday evening were fitting. I am, however reminded of the words of Aeschylus, spoken by Robert Kennedy to a crowd of people in Indianapolis, Indiana, upon learning of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God."

Later that year, when Robert Kennedy was himself laid to rest, his brother, Ted Kennedy, spoke words that could also be used to describe Ken.

"[He] need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man."

Farewell Ken. Rest well. Your earthly travels are finished now. We will see you down the road.

from the Archives and Archivists listserv:

It is with great sadness that the staff of the Rockefeller Archive Center announces the passing of Kenneth Wayne Rose, on Thursday, February 3, 2011, after a brief illness. Ken managed the outreach programs as the Associate Director of Research and Education at the Rockefeller Archive Center in Pocantico Hills, NY. With more than twenty-three years of service at the Archive Center, Ken’s loss to the archival and scholarly communities is incalculable.

A native of Albright, W. Va., Ken received his BA in history from Washington and Lee University, and his MA and PhD degrees from Case Western Reserve University. He was senior managing editor of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History before joining the staff of the Rockefeller Archive Center in 1987. He has written articles on the Rockefeller family and Rockefeller philanthropy for various journals, reference volumes and conferences. He also has contributed to the American National Biography, the Dictionary of Virginia Biography, and the historical encyclopedias for New York City, New Jersey, and the Midwest. Ken was selected as a Fulbright Fellow to teach American history at Ege University in Izmir, Turkey.

A historian, Rose remained a Virginian at heart, yet engaged with scholars and archivists in China and Turkey as easily as those in the United States. He was intrigued by local history, by African-American history, by 20th-century radicals and by traditional American folk music.

The family suggests charitable donations in Ken's name to the American Heart Association or the Remote Area Medical Foundation.