Rose Ann Jaco was born on September 21, 1932, to William and Mary Jaco in Toledo Ohio.  One of eight children, she lost her mother when she was seven years old and, sadly, also lost her father shortly after.  Six of the eight children now orphaned were taken in by their grandparents, Dabner and Jenny Jaco in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Life was hard for the orphans, living in a two-story farmhouse with a dirt floor, no electricity or indoor plumbing or running water. The children slept together on a straw mattress and had to use an outhouse. The children had to pick cotton in the fields and carry water buckets uphill from the stream for drinking, cooking, and bathing.  They attended school in a one room schoolhouse with only a biscuit in their pocket for lunch. Rose would tell stories about being envious of the orphans at the orphanage because they had pretty dresses.

When Rose was 15 years old, she left to go live with her brother Chuck and his wife Betty in Toledo, Ohio. It was there, while waiting tables in a coffee shop, Rose met the love of her life, Howard Cecil Stenlund, whose ship had recently come to port. Seated at one of her tables, it was love at first sight and he proclaimed to the waitress who'd just served him the best chocolate malted he'd ever tasted that he'd just met the woman he was going to marry.  They wrote letters as the romance blossomed and they were married January 10, 1950 in Chicago. Thereafter, they relocated to California to start their family. They had six children, George Marcus, Howard Andrew, Alina Kathleen, Tracy Lee, Troy Lee, and David Eric. After 35 years of marriage, Rose lost her husband to cancer, and she decided to return to Lawrenceburg to where many of her siblings were drawn back after marrying and raising children of their own. It was in the town of their childhood they experienced a renaissance in their golden years filled with card games, potlucks, charity work and annual family reunions.  As time passed, Rose became the only remaining sibling of the "Great Eight!" and her children moved her back to California to be near them and her five grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

Rose was often asked to write a book about her life but the only stories she wanted to regale interested parties with concerned the family that she adored. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, and surrogate mother to her children's friends.

The matriarch of an ever-expanding family for decades, Rose passed peacefully early Easter morning, March 31. Her passing leaves a huge hole in the lives of her loved ones.  But the loss is curtailed knowing she's reunited and now dancing with her husband and rejoicing with the "Great Eight", where they are again taking turns shuffling the deck and dealing cards.

A celebration of life in Tennessee is being held May 5 and the family is planning a private interment in California in August.