Michael John Christopher Rose

Michael John Christopher Rose passed away in Edmonton on December 11. He was 72.

Born December 5, 1952 to Anna (née Starobová) and Jack Rose, Michael grew up in a house that his dad built in Warburg, Alberta. One of six siblings, he was strong both athletically and academically in high school. He played football, basketball, and volleyball, and was offered a full scholarship to study mathematics at University.

Michael fell in love with Alison Rose (née MacDonald) in winter 1975, and together they raised their three children Chris, Miranda, and Simon in Grande Prairie and remained lifelong friends.

Michael was a devoted father and děda. He gave his children the sky, sharing his love of skydiving with his family (undeterred by Alison’s broken ankle on a rough landing), and sending the family to see the second-last flight of the space shuttle Atlantis at Cape Canaveral. He gave them music, playing Christmas songs on the family’s upright piano while the kids fought to accompany him, playing the high part of Silver Bells.

He briefly studied Chemistry at the University of Alberta before joining Alberta Transportation, where he continued to study chemistry in a more personal way as part of a survey crew. He also built safe and reliable roads connecting Northern Alberta for over 40 years, until his reluctant retirement in 2020. He built Highway 40 from Grande Prairie to Grande Cache, and likely walked the entire length of Highway 43 between Edmonton and Grande Prairie at various times with the help of all three of his children.

Michael loved to travel. A family favorite was Wild Roses ‘93, a road trip spent camping, picking cloudberries, and counting waterfalls and license plates from Grande Prairie to Whitehorse, Dawson City, Inuvik and back, leaving behind a trail of flat tires. Later, his trips included family beach resort vacations in the Caribbean, adventuring with Miranda in South America and Antarctica, taking Chris and Matt to Madagascar, and frequently visiting Simon when he settled in Sweden. Proud of his Czech heritage, Michael was glad to get to visit the village of Pitín from which his mother emigrated to Canada at age 13.

He loved to meet people and listen to their stories, and would strike up conversation with a stranger any time he was waiting in line. He could, and would, say thank you or order “a cold beer, please” in every language belonging to anyone he ever met.

For Michael, being five minutes early was ten minutes late. To avoid this dreaded fate, he would stand by the door with his shoes on and bag packed 30 minutes before the agreed departure time. He was an inveterate travel optimizer, who would work out the ideal route between any two points based on an intricate analysis of traffic lights, turn lanes, and current construction and weather conditions, and had a nearly supernatural sense of direction. He always drove steadily at exactly the speed limit, which meant he arrived just when he planned.

He enjoyed playing pool, bridge, cribbage, and mahjong with his family, snuggling his two cats, tending his garden filled with carrots, peas, and an incredible raspberry patch, picking copious quantities of Saskatoons, watching his grandchildren’s sporting endeavours, listening to them geek out about their passions, and sharing a pint or a spicy gin Caesar, no straw, with friends at his local pub.

Michael is survived by his children, Chris Rose (Helen Montgomery), Miranda Annett, and Simon Rose (Kim Nicholas); grandchildren, Matthew Darwin Rose and Sophie, Desmond, and Seamus Annett; his ex-wife and dear friend, Alison Rose; and five siblings: Pat Rose, Stan Rose, Margaret Rose, Jo-Anne Doll, and Marian Rose. A memorial service will be held on Thursday December 19 at 2pm at Memories Funeral Home, 13403 St Albert Trail NW, Edmonton. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute.