Rose Biediger Kersh

Rose Marie Stowe was born in 1930 in San Antonio to George W. Stowe and Ethel Van Ness Stowe, the youngest of five children. She was raised there and educated in the schools of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Rose attended Our Lady of the Lake College and in 1952 received a Bachelor of Science degree in medical technology from Incarnate Word College.

In 1954 Rose married Robert Dennis Biediger of LaCoste, Texas, after he returned from service in the U.S. Army in Korea. She and Bob started their family in Greenville, South Carolina, where three daughters were born. Rose worked as a full-time mother. In 1962 Bob’s career took them to Asheville, North Carolina, where they welcomed two more daughters. Their family of seven spent thirteen wonderful years in Asheville, grounded as always in the Church.

Bob’s work brought Rose and the girls to Mississippi in 1975, settling in Jackson, which Rose would call home for the rest of her life. With Bob’s unexpected and untimely death in 1978, a 47-year-old Rose faced the challenge of suddenly being a single parent to five daughters. Strengthened especially by the love and support of her parish, St. Richard Catholic Church, Rose prevailed, adapted, and kept her head above water (literally, in the Jackson floods of 1979 and 1983). Always inclined toward things scientific and medical, she earned a second degree in 1983 from the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s School for Health Related Professions and worked as a cytotechnologist for several years after.

In 1993 Rose remarried, finding in former seafarer Jack Kersh an affectionate husband, an adventurous travel companion, and a fellow grandparent. They shared a full life together until Jack’s death in 1996.

The Church held central importance for Rose. At St. Richard she served as a lector, was active in the Ladies Life Circle, volunteered in the Gleaners outreach ministry, and sang in the Resurrection Choir. She was also a member of the Handbell Choir at St. Francis of Assisi in Madison. Rose spent her final eight years at St. Catherine’s Village, where she continued to be nurtured by the Church’s daily presence in her life. She enjoyed the company of old friends and made many new ones. Rose also became a prolific pencil artist, eager to share her work. Most of all, Rose took great joy in her large and boisterous family, whose penchant for having a fine time they learned from her.

Rose was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters and two brothers, and by her husbands, Bob Biediger and Jack Kersh. She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Linda Moak (Joe), Diane Ledet (Henry), Carol Alvis (Les), Janet Siegel, and Nancy Morgan; by her grandchildren and their spouses, Samuel Moak (Allison), Charlie Alvis (Sophie), Anna Sparks (Daniel), Addison Siegel (Mary), Robert Ledet (fiancee Rachel), Rosemary Moak (Neal), Chelsea Siegel, Madeline Alvis, Dean Morgan, and Nathan Morgan; by two great-grandchildren, three step-great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews; and on the Kersh family side, by six stepchildren and a multitude of step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be held at St. Richard Catholic Church on Friday, March 18, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. Visitation will be at the Church before the service from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, Rose’s wish was for memorials to be given to the building fund of St. Richard Catholic Church, 1242 Lynnwood Drive, Jackson, Mississippi 39206, or to the charity of one’s choice.