Gene Robert Rose

Gene Robert Rose, 84, of Buchanan, passed away of natural causes on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, at West Woods of Niles. A celebration of life service will be held at 10:30 am on Saturday, November 30, 2019, at First United Methodist Church, 132 South Oak St., Buchanan, MI. Burial will follow in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Buchanan. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service from 9:30-10:30 am. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association. Those wishing to send a condolence online may do so at www.swemchapel.com. Gene was born on February 17, 1935, to Robert and Ruth (Denno) Rose in Buchanan, MI. He graduated from Buchanan High School in 1953 and Michigan State (College) University in 1957 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Engineering. On August 29, 1959, Gene married Ann Louise Coger at First United Methodist Church, Buchanan. While at Michigan State, he was a walk-on football player. He was a lifetime member of the Michigan State University Alumni Association and was a season ticket holder to home football games. Gene was a licensed Professional Engineer and his career spanned 40 years as Design Engineer with Case Construction Equipment in Rockford, IL, a Senior Design Engineer with Clark Equipment Company, Benton Harbor, MI, and a Chief Engineer with Volvo Michigan Euclid in Euclid, OH and Volvo Construction in NC. While with Clark he was the Chief Engineer on the company’s largest production front-end loader the Clark-Michigan 475 where he also patented a design on a key system of the machine. His outside activities and hobbies included golfing for many, many years, was on various leagues and enjoyed traveling to the Masters Tournament at Augusta and visiting St. Andrews Old Course in Scotland. Gene also enjoyed traveling to air shows including Oshkosh in Wisconsin, Edwards Air Force Base Flight Test Center Air Show in California, and Air Fete at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall, England. He was a member of the Berrien County Road Commission, board member of the Howard’s Lions Club and Buchanan Moose Lodge, as well as Friends of Oak Ridge Cemetery. Genealogy was another hobby and he can trace his family back to the Mayflower on his mother’s side and Hessen, Germany in the early 1700s on his father’s side. Gene is survived by his daughter, Stacey (Mark) Eaton of Tallahassee, FL; son, Scott (Christine) Rose of Geneva, IL; grandchildren, Brandon & Amanda Rose and sister, Jane Rose, Cody, WY. Gene was preceded in death by his wife Ann in 2015 and his parents, Robert and Ruth Rose.