Rose Lampert Schwartz departed 94 years of “a good run” of a good life on July 26, 2023. During her last weeks, she intoned us all to keep living our own good lives. Rose was warm, considerate, kind, brave, and immensely intelligent.
Rose was the youngest of six children born to Samuel and Tillie Lampert, immigrants from Russia. In her childhood, she could wander to her home’s front storefront to watch her father tailor beautiful clothes, or wander into the kitchen to watch her mother keep alive all the amazing “old world” foods. She left her native Philadelphia for destinations south in 1952 with her new husband, Louis Joseph Schwartz—ultimately putting down new roots in Mobile, Alabama, in 1954, and learning the skills of being a southerner.
Joe would remark that Rose didn’t know how to boil water when they married, and that he had to teach her. Once he provided a few basic lessons, she took off at a rapid pace and he gladly turned that task over to her. She became very adept at alternating and blending the old-world dishes of her childhood with the southern and creole cooking of Mobile, as well as of the Texas dishes her mother-in-law, Miriam Schwartz, taught her.
Over their 65 years of marriage, Rose and Joe raised four children. Together they launched and ran Joro’s family clothing store and the Bottoms Up menswear stores, forming an unofficial extended family among those who worked there. Joe and Rose enjoyed friends and family, and traveled the world. After Joe’s death, Rose continued to enjoy her family and friends, and devour books: One always resided by her daytime chair and one by her bedside.
Visitors to her house enjoyed the beauty of her green thumb, often taking cuttings of her plants to live on in their own homes. Her lifelong passion for learning led her to become a founding member of Odyssey USA at the University of South Alabama, and her love of live performance meant she enjoyed Mobile Symphony and Joe Jefferson Players for many years.
Her life and memory are cherished by her surviving children Suzanne Schwartz (Michael Fresques) of Austin, Texas, Phyllis Schwartz Mutchnick (Sheldon) of Richmond, Virginia, and Karl David Schwartz of Arlington, Virginia. She delighted in her role of Grandmom to Saul Mutchnick (Sonya) and Rosa Mutchnick, and of GrandRose to Hannah Fresques (Alex Bell) and Rachel Fresques. The joyful smile and hugs of great-granddaughter Ada Bell brightened her life the last few years. Karla Schwartz Blum was more a sister than a sister-in-law. Rose is also fondly remembered by many nieces, nephews and cousins.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Louis Joseph Schwartz, and son, Donald Bruce Schwartz; by her parents, Samuel and Tillie Lampert; by her three brothers, Herman, Harold and Saul Lampert; and by her two sisters, Violet Burton and Ruth Borger. Her longtime friend Ethel Mae Merriweather also preceded her in death, and left a large hole in her life. Friend Sarah Friedman lives on in the mandelbrot recipe she gave to Rose, who passed it on to her children and grandchildren. COVID and then advancing age kept many friends as “phone only,” but Rose cherished them, including Jean, Mina, Joanie and too many others to name. She had the most wonderful current and former neighbors, including Debbie and Sidney, Jennie and Keith, Porter and Shirley, Deanna, Linda, Reba, and Leannah. Teresa cared for her house, Terry cared for her yard and property, and each cared for her and her spirit. Rabbi Steven Silberman regularly provided quiet company.
Those in her life will miss our daily calls and visits with Mom, and our standard salutation of “talk to you tomorrow.”
Services were held graveside at Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, 793-841 Owens Street, Mobile, AL 36604, on Friday July 28 at 10 am.
