Rose Mary (Defilippi) Hess Clyburn was born on May 30, 1901, to Antonio and Maria (Guilio) Defilippi in Jerome, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory. Both her parents were born in Italy. Rose Mary was one of five children born to the Deflippi family. She grew up in Jerome, but attended the Prescott Free Academy through eighth grade, boarding in Prescott during the school term. She attended high school in Berkeley, California.

Rose Mary met Gordon A. Hess in Prescott, where he moved after his discharge from the Army during World War I. They married September 1, 1920, in Jerome. Gordon worked the mines and became a foreman. They had two children, Robert A. (born in 1922) and Dorothy I. (born in 1926). 

After divorcing Gordon, Rose Mary moved with her daughter, Dorothy, to Prescott, where Dorothy attended high school. Later Dorothy would married William R. Shepard, for whom the football field at Prescott High School is named. Robert enlisted and served in the South Pacific during World War II.

Rose Mary married Claude Clyburn after his first wife passed away in 1945.  They lived in Prescott and attended the First Congregational Church.  Rose Mary died on July 4, 1976. She is buried at Mountain View Cemetery next to Claude, who had passed away in 1969.

It is interesting, her family notes, that Rose Mary was born on Memorial Day, baptized on Christmas Day, gave birth to her son on Flag Day and died on Independence Day.

Rose Mary’s grandchildren remembered that their grandma never learned to cook because she took care of her four younger siblings. In addition, she liked to give her grandchildren white bread with butter and sugar instead of cookies. She enjoyed gardening and held a reverence for all living things, once removing a nest of black widow spiders to a place in the woods.

Rose Mary’s mother, Maria (Guilio) Defilippi is also honored in the Territorial Women’s Memorial Rose Garden. Her daughter Dorothy I. (Hess) Shepard has an oral history on file at Sharlot Hall Museum Library & Archives.

Donor: William R. Shepard – Grandson- 2014
Photo Location: RGC MS-39, Box C, F-Clyburn, Rose Mary
Updated: 5/27/2015, Gretchen Hough Eastman