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Leonard "Rosie" Ross

R. Waldo McBurney

Stanley Kunitz

One of Arizona’s great living treasures, Leonard “Rosie” Ross is a testament to the twin pillars of dedication and determination.
      Rosie turned 100 years old in early 2006; he is more active and mentally sharper than many people much younger. As a lifelong musician — he’s been playing trumpet professionally since 1923 — Rosie hardly ever slows down.     

Click here to watch and listen to Rosie.

         His life has been extraordinary; his many accomplishments include being a member of the band that replaced Glenn Miller’s band and performing the “Retreat Ceremony” at the nightly lowering of the our flag for General Eisenhower in London during World War II.  Prescott, Arizona, is where Rosie has called home for nearly three quarters of a century. 
         "I fell in love with it,” he says.
        But he’s hardly a homebody. He can be found every Friday night, without exception, playing his trumpet at the Pine Cone Inn in Prescott. He even drives himself there! He is frequently called upon to play “Taps” for services held by the American Legion Color Guard and also plays private parties and other gigs.
        In addition, Rosie was chosen a few years ago to represent Arizona in the “Oldest Continuing Workers” celebration in Washington, D.C. Rosie sat in with the band at the Washington Hilton and schooled them in showmanship! He has appeared in numerous local newspaper and television stories and is honored and valued by all who know him.
        Asked to what he attributes his longevity, he says it’s simple: a love of performing. “I love to entertain and make people happy. I look forward to each gig. And that makes me happy. As long as people want to hear Harry James ‘You Made Me Love You’ or Clyde McCoy’s ‘Sugar Blues,’ I’ll be here to play it for them!”

Genworth Financial TV commercial      

Happy 101st Birthday, Rosie!

Leonard "Rosie" Ross recently celebrated his 101st birthday at his "home away from home," the Pine Cone Inn, where he's played trumpet and entertained every Friday night for decades. It was a full house, an invitation-only event and the hottest ticket in town.

Rosie's Birthday Celebration.
Rosie blows out the candles on one
of 11 birthday cakes (top left).

Rosie entertains his guests (top right).

Rosie with Lynn Adler (inset left), founder of
the National Centenarian Awareness Project.

Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2006

Insurer Celebrates Well-Lived Lives
Vibrant Centenarians Star In Genworth Campaign - Will Boomers Be Turned Off?
By Kelly Greene

Many marketers have avoided using the elderly in commercials targeting baby boomers, worried that reminders of aging would turn them off. But insurer Genworth Financial is featuring six centenarians — wrinkles and all — in a series of television and print ads starting this week.
     WPP Group’s Impact advertising agency in New York came up with the idea of using vignettes of vibrant people in the 100-plus set to raise the profile of its insurance products, all of which are tied to security in later life. The list includes life insurance, long-term care insurance, annuities and mortgage insurance.
.... If the ads attract attention from consumers, too, so much the better, says Buzz Richmond, Genworth’s senior vice president and brand leader. “We thought this concept of centenarian would be a fascinating story of no matter how long you live, it’s important to plan for the future,” he says.
     The people featured in the ads aren’t your stereotypically frail elders. The first commercial, running on cable networks including ESPN, CNN, Fox News and Discovery, shows 100-year-old Leonard “Rosie” Ross playing the trumpet — he still has a regular Friday gig — and driving his own car.
... Mr. Richmond says he worried that the campaign could misfire with baby boomers “in total denial about aging” and with younger people who “don’t want to look at old people, period.” But when Genworth employees, brokers and agents saw a mockup of the ads, he adds, “the response basically was, ‘I want to be that person. I want to be 100, and I want to be as healthy as that person when I get to be 100.'"
     To find the six people finally chosen for the Genworth campaign, Impact combed the Internet and worked with groups that study centenarians [including NCAP] to assemble a pool of about 80 people. It then whittled the group down to eight finalists for four TV spots...  
     "Their frame of reference was so different from ours," says Rachel Howald, an Impact creative director. "They all remembered seeing a car for the first time, and getting electricity in their homes.”