By Richard M. Cesario

Prescott’s beloved Leonard "Rosie" Ross died on April 21, 2009 at the age of 103. He was a patriot extraordinaire, a generous philanthropist and was honored and valued by all who knew him. You may have seen him on the TV commercial which aired on CNN, CNBC, Fox News and other networks for Genworth Financial where he mentioned he could be found "every Friday night at the Pine Cone Inn" Supper Club playing his trumpet and dancing. He was 100 years old at the time the commercial was made!

With Veteran’s Day approaching, it is fitting to remember Rosie. He was known by all as a gracious gentleman with a quiet character, but always the center of attraction. He would entertain crowds all night with rambling poems and a great variety of songs. He was an entertainer who had a passion to play for all those willing to listen.

Born in Wakita, OK on February 9, 1906, he was raised on a farm located about 145 miles north of Oklahoma City along the Kansas border just after the turn of the century. When he was just a tot there were no cars, no paved streets, gas stations, traffic signals, traffic signs or license plates. He also mentioned they had no telephone, refrigerator, television, radio, air conditioner or even running water. All these great things came into existence after he became a young man.

Rosie’s family moved to Springfield, Colorado when he was in his teens. He would help his father run the only hotel in town while he attended Lamar High School in the early 1920s. When he was 15, his father, who played a trombone, bought Rosie his first horn, a baritone trombone, and he would assist his father at prayer meetings around the county. He also played back-up on a trumpet while still in high school. Rosie was self-taught and learned to play using a "how-to" magazine he bought from Sears, Roebuck & Co. for two bits. Since there wasn’t a music department at Lamar High, Rosie appointed himself the director and the students played at many school dances, football and basketball games. Upon graduating from high school, he entered the University of Nebraska where he formed a seven-piece band which played during the depression in surrounding Nebraska as well as in Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. Rosie became very good at playing the trumpet and was soon trying to copy all the popular songs. He loved "Rag Time," "Dixieland" and always played his favorite, Clyde McCoy’s "Sugar Blues." He played trumpet professionally beginning in 1923.

Rosie moved to Arizona in the late 1920s and was lucky to find work in Phoenix playing at the Riverside Ballroom. Arizona was a brand new state and he fell in love with all its variety and landscape beauty. He mentioned that coming from Oklahoma and Kansas he had never beheld such beauty and then swore he would never leave. He auditioned for the position as first trumpet in the band, "Ham Crawford and his Thirteen Louisiana Sync-o-pators." The ballroom crowds loved him! "We want to see Rosie," they would shout! It was here, in 1928, while doing skits with the band, Leonard got his nickname, "Rosie." In one of the band’s novelty performances, he was dressed in a grass skirt, danced while playing his trumpet and wore a red mop for a beard, becoming known as "Rosie, the Bearded Lady." The name stuck! After making friends and playing in and around Phoenix through the summer season, he was asked by a fellow musician to join a band in Prescott, Arizona.

Prescott became his home in 1931 when he relocated here and formed a small band called "Rosie’s Rhythm Rustlers" and entertained at an outdoor ballroom called "Garden of the Gods" in Granite Dells. The Garden would pack in the folks from miles around. He also played twice a week with a band on the plaza in downtown Prescott. Other engagements to follow were at the Odd Fellows Hall in Kingman, Christmas party for workers at Parker Dam, The Elks Club in Kingman and the Oatman Christmas Ball of 1936. After a triumphant tour, Rosie and his band returned to Prescott where he and his band were asked to entertain at the VA (Fort Whipple) Hospital and for the veterans of the American Legion Post #6. During the 1930s, Rosie’s band became very popular around town and would entertain on Whiskey Row and wherever they could find work. He was becoming a legend.

(Richard M. Cesario lives in Prescott and is the Korean War Veterans Color Guard Captain.)

In Part II we will cover Rosie’s military experience during WWII and activities in civic organizations in Prescott.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(American Legion Courtesy Photos) Reuse only by permission.

Rosie playing his trumpet at the dedication of the Neil Logan bronze All Veterans Memorial (inset) in 1989 on the west side of the courthouse.