Rose DeGrasse

BIOGRAPHY

DeGrasse was born as Rose Mary Rizk in Sioux City, Iowa, USA, on 4 October 1912. Her parents were Elias Rizk (1882–1936) and Jameley Saab (1888–1961), originally from the village of Jib Janin in Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. She had five siblings: Fred Elias, Frieda Sullivan (1909–2017), Josephine Margaret Studebaker, Elmer (1914–2016) and Joseph Eugene (1920–2014). She grew up in Sioux City, in the house her father had built in 1918. She attended Immaculate Conception Grade School, East Junior High School, and graduated from East High School in Sioux City in 1930.

As a college undergraduate in psychiatric social work, she attended two years at the University of Iowa. She and her roommate, her sister, Josephine, returned to Sioux City upon hearing the news of their mother’s automobile accident in 1933, which left her paraplegic. Upon returning to Sioux City, she entered Briar Cliff College, where she became the college’s first women’s golf champion. Upon graduation, she worked at the Interstate Oil Company founded by her father. At the same time, she cared for her paralyzed mother in the family home, with the constant support of her siblings.

On 8 December 1945, she married Charles “Chuck” DeGrasse (née Gresse). Her husband was previously stationed in Europe during the war. The couple had three children: Barbara, Richard (1949–2003), and Steven.

Her husband passed away in 1988. She served on the Altar Societies of both Immaculate Conception Church and then-Nativity parishes, and later in life became a member of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in San Antonio. She golfed avidly for 75 years, before giving up at the age of 96.

One of her sisters, Frieda Sullivan, lived to be 107, while her younger brother, Elmer, lived to be 102. The others three siblings all died in their 90s.

DeGrasse passed away in San Antonio, Texas, USA, on 5 November 2022, at the age of 110. She was survived by her daughter, Barbara, and son, Steven, as well as four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandsons.

RECOGNITION

At the time of her death, she was among the oldest living people in the U.S. state of Texas, and possibly the oldest living person of Lebanese descent.

Her age was validated by LongeviQuest on 13 June 2023.