At 103, this Rose is still blooming

"I don't think about aging," says Rose Hammond. "I just live."

At 103, the oldest parishioner of Sacred Heart parish in Lake George has done a lot of living, and she recently shared some of her memories with The Evangelist.

Mrs. Hammond is one year older than the incorporated Village of Lake George.

Hotel memories

Mrs. Hammond emigrated from Germany in 1929 as Rose Karolina Boos. She said she came to Lake George to work in "a hotel that was owned by a German couple, Mr. and Mrs. Ballia. I got that job by placing an ad for work in a [German-language] newspaper. I was living with relatives then in Brooklyn. I listed all the work I knew how to do: sewing, cleaning, cooking.

"When I arrived, I looked around at the mountains and the lake, and knew I was at home. It was just like the Black Forest in Bavaria."

Between 1929 and 1936, she worked as a housekeeper and hotel manager. At the end of each tourist season, the owners returned to New York City, but she remained behind to do repairs and upkeep.

War years

The immigrant became a U.S. citizen in 1936. In 1940, she married Reuben Hammond, who died just four years later.

"Right after my husband died, Bishop [Edmund] Gibbons suggested that Catholics think about helping the war effort any way we could," she noted. "One of the local churches had a sign-up day. I decided to join the U.S. Women's Army Corps. I was trained as a surgical technician."

After basic training, Mrs. Hammond was assigned to Rhodes General Hospital in Utica, where she worked in the surgical unit. When the war ended, she returned to Lake George and resumed her housekeeping work at various hotels.

Parish life

In 1949, Rev. James Curley, the new pastor of Sacred Heart, hired her as housekeeper and cook at the rectory. She remained in that position until 1955, when she followed him to his new assignment.

"In those days," she explained, "the pastor's cook and housekeeper would follow him from parish to parish. There was always a lot of work to do in a rectory because there were other resident priests, and visiting priests and missionaries who would stay at the rectory for weeks at a time. I was kept very, very busy."

She worked at parishes in Worcester, West Winfield and Watervliet until she retired in 1972. She considers her work more of a ministry than a career.

Faith in motion

Over the years, Mrs. Hammond developed a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and regularly prays a novena to the Sacred Heart.

Mrs. Hammond believes that being a parish housekeeper for almost one third of her life was the most important ministry she ever performed.

"Long ago, I dedicated myself to serving the parish and the pastors that have served here," she said. "I believe that a person cannot live without their faith, so I pray every day. I pray the Rosary, and I pray to many saints -- but always and especially to my favorite one, St. Rose of Lima. I still say my prayers in German."

(Rose Hammond quotations: "Work is good for a person. If you know how to work hard, you will always be healthy and happy. In fact, if you love your work, it seems like only half the work; the other half is joy."..."In life, you have to go and do the way you feel."..."Each day, I wake up and pace myself. I don't know how long I will live, but really it isn't important to me. God knows the time of my life, I don't; so, why worry about it?")

(6/23/05)