Charles Rose, rural vet, co-founder of museum

Charles "Jess" Rose, a rural veterinarian who delivered calves and doctored chickens for more than 40 years in the Buckley-Enumclaw area south of Seattle, let his passion for the past make history jump to life in the present.

Whether on a call or sitting in the Buckley Historical Museum, which he helped found, he entertained people with stories about the area's early days and his work in the forests and farms.

He served as grand marshal in Buckley parades, helped with wildlife-enhancement projects of the Tahoma Audubon Society and taught a host of folks about the interdependence of life forms, right down to those in the soil.

If he hadn't had sextuple-bypass surgery in 1986, he might have continued practicing. He certainly was still "preaching," says his family.

Dr. Rose died Thursday (Feb. 17) of heart failure. He was 89.

"He was quite a character, a very funny man," said his daughter Nora Lyn Rose of Buckley.

"He loved the hills, stories and laughter. He'd been gored, kicked and every other thing that happens around animals. He delivered a calf from a cow who'd crawled under a chicken coop. Once we were entertaining guests outdoors after dark when a flock of chickens decided to roost on the fireplace mantel."

Dr. Rose kept livestock on a 20-acre farm but rarely said no to people who dropped off hurt or sick critters, even skunks and possums.

In the mid-1950s he was the veterinarian on MGM's "Track of the Cat," starring Robert Mitchum. Besides looking after cattle in the film, he had to sedate a bull and douse with ketchup a bull supposedly mauled by a cougar.

"It was cool for us kids during the filming," his daughter said.. "We got to sit around on stuffed cows and talk with Robert Mitchum. He was really a gentleman to us, not the wild man we heard he was."

Born in Colorado Springs, Colo., Dr. Rose came to Enumclaw with his family at age 2. He graduated from Enumclaw High School and worked one summer clearing land for Mud Mountain Dam.

Other summers, while earning his doctor-of-veterinary-medicine degree at what is now Washington State University, he was a Forest Service lookout and trail-maintenance worker. He developed Silver Springs Campground.

In 1935 he married and set up practice in Ellensburg. But in 1944 he contracted brucellosis, a deadly bovine disease, and resettled in Enumclaw to be near his family.

Within a year he recovered and set up a veterinary practice. In 1953 he and friends built a covered wagon and recreated a white settler's 1853 trek over Naches Pass.

In 1955 he moved to Buckley.

"His interest in preserving things ultimately led to his founding the museum downtown," his daughter said. "He became much more active there after he retired."

In 1994 the Washington Museum Association gave him its distinguished-service award.

Also surviving are daughters Ann Gibson and Martha Olsen, also of Buckley, and Meri Kay McDonald of St. Maries, Idaho; sisters, Hazel Hantke of Tacoma and Doris Ziegler of Enumclaw; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. His wife of 61 years, Maxine Rose, died in 1996. His grandson Wes Hann died last year.

A gathering will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Buckley Hall on River Avenue across from the museum. Remembrances may go to Foothills Historical Society, P.O. Box 2359, Buckley, WA 98321. Carole Beers' phone message number is 206-464-2391. Her e-mail address is cbeers@seattletimes.com