She was a lovely voice singing
She was an introspective soul searching
She was a creative muse painting
She was a literary angel reading
Yet she suffered not only the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
But the solitary madness, the disconnected hopelessness
And still survived and thrived through years of the sour grapes
Only to make a fine wine out of her thorns
She had been places in her mind that as Iris Dement said:
"Let the mystery be!"

Rose Wootton once wrote an e-mail to the Radical Cheerleaders where she praised their line, "They can crush the flowers but not the spring."

Her brother Terry told a story at her memorial service that said a lot about Rose:

"When Rose and I were kids, eight or nine years old, Rose lived at a boarding school for a while and I lived with my mother. I went to visit her once at this school, which was an old monastery in the South of England. She had a pet mouse, a black one that she loved, and we were playing with it. There was a music room at the school with a piano in it and we put the mouse on the keyboard and let it run around. The piano had a long heavy lid that flipped down to cover the keys and just as the mouse peeked over the edge of the keys, I accidentally knocked the lid closed, killing the mouse.

"This may sound like a horrible story but the thing I remember most about it is that we were both very upset and I didn’t know what to say to make her feel better. Rose saw me struggling and said, "It’s all right Terry, I forgive you." Just like that, without a second thought or a moment’s hesitation, and she meant it. That was Rose. And she kept that forgiving nature throughout her life."

Another story Terry told showed Rose’s rebellious, anti-authoritarian streak: "Rose and I were partners in crime as kids. There was a park across the street from our apartment in England which had a high iron fence about seven feet tall all the way around with only two gates on the opposite sides. These gates were locked by the caretaker around dusk every day.

"One day, Rose and I were out playing and found ourselves locked out of the park on the wrong side. The shortest way home was through the park and it was getting dark, so we decided to climb the gate, run across the park, and climb over the other gate. I’m sure this was Rose’s idea. She wasn’t afraid of anything.

"When we got to the second gate, Rose climbed over first and I started to climb over too. I was just getting that exhilarating feeling one gets as a kid when you think you just got away with something. I climbed over the top and jumped. As I jumped, the bottom of my jacket hooked the top of the gate, slamming me back against the gate and knocking the wind out of me.

"So there I was, hanging from the top of the gate by my jacket, gasping for breath. Rose, who had hit the ground running, eventually realized that I wasn’t behind her and came back. As soon as we stopped laughing, she climbed up and unhooked me. That’s just one example of the mischief we got into as kids. That was Rose."

As an adult, Rose had gone to art school for a Bachelor’s degree at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, still having adventures. She then moved to New Jersey, studied art education at Kean College, and commuted to New York frequently, had several art shows that were written up locally, and lived in a boarding house for a while. She was also married for a short while.

Rose went to Pitt Library School for her Masters. She worked in the Carnegie Library in Swissvale in the children’s department for a year, always coming up with creative, multicultural ideas. She spent many years doing childcare, companion care and various odd jobs that she solicited with her unique hand-made signs at the food co-op or elsewhere. She continued to do her naturalistic yet surreal artwork in many media.

I met Rose six years ago and we formed a strong romantic and friendly alliance, as well as becoming non-competitive Scrabble partners. In addition to the inspirational statements and hand-made refrigerator magnets in her apartment, she painted a large peace sign and hung it outside on her balcony railing for a while. I remember carrying that sign at a peace rally downtown with her. She was always informing people of events within the peace and justice community up to the end, such as posting a sign in her building in Wilkinsburg about the recent opera "Dead Man Walking."

We traveled a bit, visiting Terry in Florida twice, and once going to a chaotic anti-globalization rally in DC, where the police had harmed some journalists and many protesters were arrested. We both got involved in the Merton Center’s Arts and Symbols group that formed after 9/11 as well as helping reestablish ACORN in Pittsburgh. She also stayed involved in volunteerism, reading to children through "Beginning with Books."

She had such raw honesty and empathy with others’ suffering that even in her end, by her own hand at age 43, she didn’t want to hurt anyone and wrote, "I love you all, don’t put yourself out."

- Adam Kirshenbaum

Rosemary "Rose" Wootton attended the Womyns Spirituality Circle and was a member of First Unitarian Church. She was an artist, humanitarian, member of the Thomas Merton Center and supported the peace and justice community in Pittsburgh. Friends and family gathered at the First Unitarian Church in Shadyside on June 14 to honor her unselfish deeds and her light-hearted spirit. She was 43.