St. Matthew’s Church in Bedford Village, NY was the setting Saturday Sept. 26 for the internment of the ashes of the only daughter and last surviving child of Walter Tower Rosen and Lucie Bigelow Dodge Rosen, Caramoor’s founders. She had been predeceased by her brother Walter, Jr. when he was killed in action while in the Canadian Royal Air Force in WWII.

Their summer home in Katonah, Town of Bedford is now known as Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, home of the International Music Festival. The Rosens are known for their vast collection of Eastern and Western art, ranging from B.C. to the 20th century, especially Art of the Renaissance. All are housed in their home which is now known as The Rosen House with nineteen rooms open to the public - where I am honored to act as a docent for tours of their former home. They purchased the property in 1928 and spent the next 10 years incorporating rooms from Castles and Villas from Europe plus the construction of The Music Room. Mrs. Rosen lived there until her passing in 1968. It was her daughter Anne, who worked with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to catalog the home and to organize it as a house museum which opened in 1970.

She had also overseen the sale of the four New York town homes and had a wing added to Caramoor in 1974, designed by Mott B. Schmidt. This “New Wing” displays characteristic rooms plus the main stained glass door of the Town House on West 54th Street.

In giving tours we used to say that she was in a Maine Nursing home and now are saddened to say that she passed on August 15th, 2009 at the age of 93.

After the private Family Ceremony in the Church’s burial ground for its parishioners, there was a service within the Church. Reverend Daniel Lennox led the Memorial Service. Director of Music and Organist Anthony Newman performed as did the Kneisel Hall Student Quartet.

The Homily by Reverend Lennox repeatedly described Anne as a Champion of the Arts. It was much in evidence in the Parish House where we attended a reception. There were the heads of St. Luke’s Orchestra, Kneisel Hall School of Chamber Music in Blue Hill, Maine and the head of The Brearley School of New York - a school which both Anne and her mother, Lucie, attended. They were there to honor her and show her family their appreciation for her active as well as monetary contributions.

We also had the pleasure to meet her granddaughter, Lucie - named after her great grandmother Lucie Bigelow Dodge Rosen. She also lives in Maine. We enthralled her of the many festivals, fetes, tours, lectures and concerts held at the home of her Great Grandparents. She was excited by the stories as to how we kept the memory and passions of her family alive at Caramoor.

Remarkable that as it seemed a part of Caramoor had been snuffed out an ember came to life!

Posted By: Karen Benvin Ransom