Rose Cates

Rose Lee Riewe Cates, age 97, passed away on Sunday, March 10, 2024.
Rose was born February 14,1927 in Hamilton County, Texas to Theodore and Lillie Riewe. She was baptized, confirmed, and married in Immanuel Lutheran Church, Pottsville, Texas. Rose graduated from Hamilton High School.
On November 12, 1946, she married Foy L. Cates and this union lasted 68 years until his passing on December 27, 2014.

After graduation from high school, Rose started nursing school while working at the bank in Hamilton, Tx. Foy and Rose moved to Hartford, Connecticut and then to Dallas, TX, where Rose worked in banking and continued to pursue her nursing career by correspondence school and occasional on campus classes.

In the years that followed, they moved to Northern California where Rose worked in aerodynamic electronics, digital instrumentation, and building components for the computers used in the first moon landing. During this time Rose studied aeronautical electronics and instrumentation. She served in a supervisory capacity in a time when that was rare for women. At the onset of the Koreon war, Foy and Rose moved back to Dallas, TX as Foy was in the Marine Reserves and had to return to Dallas for recall. When the Korean War was declared a police action, they returned to California. This time settling in Southern California.

Rose eventually went back to college while living in San Diego, California. After graduating, she started a new career in medical technology and radiation technology. They moved back to Texas in 1975, and Rose worked as Chief Technologist, Director of Radiology Department, and hospital wide Quality Control Coordinator at Brownwood, TX. Rose then worked at the Heart of Texas Memorial Hospital in Brady, TX serving as Director of Radiology, Nuclear Meds, Ultrasound, C.T. and Mammography Departments. She retired in 2001 and went into self-employment as a Quality Assurance Consultant for hospitals and clinics and pursued work in human behavioral science which was a great interest for her.

Rose officially retired from her long, successful career in 2005. She settled into life with Foy on their property in Comanche, TX. She spent her time caring for Foy, gardening, working in the Alter Guild at church, sketching pictures and architectural drawings, doing needle work, and helping care for her sister-in-law in Kerrville, TX.

She is survived by her nephew, Donnie Riewe and fiancé, Tonna; nieces, Della Hicks and husband, James; Carla Davis and husband, Greg; Shelia Head and husband, Jesse; sister-in-law, Iva Dell Hufstutler; numerous great nieces and nephews, great-great nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; two brothers, Eric Riewe and Phil Riewe; sister-in-law, Evelyn Riewe; niece, Phyllis Wells; and nephew, Darrell Riewe.

In lieu of flowers the family would like donations to go to the Comanche Library or Lutheran Sunset Ministries.