Rose Barbara (Mollick) Bagian

Rose Barbara Bagian

On Monday, December 9th, 2024, Rose Barbara Bagian, née Mollick, passed away at the age of 99 surrounded by her family.

   Rose was born May 18th, 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest of three siblings. In a time when young women rarely finished school, Rose excelled in her studies, not only graduating from Philadelphia’s Kensington High School at the age of 16, but also achieving the class rank of valedictorian along with the American Legion Award. She then went on to work as a secretary at the Philco Corporation for 10 years until she started her family.

   She met her late husband Philip at a dance after the end of World War II, and they continued dancing together for the next 67 years until his passing in 2017. Rose and Phil married on September 24th, 1949, and raised two sons, Bob and Jim, both of whom went on to achieve advanced degrees and have successful careers as physicians. These achievements were in a large part attained thanks to Rose’s encouragement to develop self-discipline and her belief in the value of hard work.

    In addition to her work ethic, Rose demonstrated the importance of family to her sons. She was a loving mom and grandmom who could make a perfect grilled cheese and baked hundreds of Christmas cookies every year to ensure that she had plenty of each individual’s favorite. She was an avid traveler who shared the world with her family by facilitating vacations each summer because she knew the most important part of a journey was taking it with those you love. She adored dachshunds and never passed up the opportunity to play a competitive game of cards.

   After moving to Mechanicsburg’s Country Meadows Retirement Community from Philadelphia in 2015, Rose became an active member of the community and kept her fellow residents entertained long into the evenings with countless games of Kings in the Corner.

    She is survived by her son Jim, her daughters-in-law Tandi and Kathy, her six grandchildren as well as their spouses, her eight great-grandchildren, and too many friends and extended family members to count. And even after a near century of life, she could still beat them all at pinochle.