Jerome Rouse

In memory of Jerome Rouse, 87, who passed away on November 15, 2011, his loving family posts this notice of our loss. He was the patriarch of our family - warrior, teacher, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Born August 18, 1924, in Butler County, Ohio, he was brought up in the small town of Reily, Ohio by parents Frank LeRoy and Minnie Ezell Rouse. After graduating from Reily High School in 1941, he attended Miami University of Ohio for a year before volunteering for the United States Navy and serving as a carrier-based aviator in the Pacific theater in World War II. Coming home at the end of the war, he had the great good fortune to marry, on November 5, 1945, Cleo Edna Sharp, his wife and best friend for more than 63 years. The couple had five children together from 1947 to 1962 -- Patricia, Marilyn, Marsha, Wildon and Julie. He returned to Miami University and graduated in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science degree. While teaching in Ohio at the junior and high school levels for five years, he maintained status in the Navy Reserve and was called back into active duty as a reservist during the Korean conflict. Subsequently he and Cleo agreed he should become a career naval officer. During his 30 years of service with the Navy, assignments included two tours at the Chase Field Naval Air Station in Beeville, another as commander of an air training squadron in Kingsville and three years as Executive Officer of Naval Air Station Cubi Point in the Republic of the Philippines, as well as shipboard deployments on five different aircraft carriers. After retiring from the Navy and moving back to the Beeville area in 1973, he became a well-respected and appreciated teacher, first at Bee County College and, later, for more than a decade, at A. C. Jones High School in the science department. When he retired for a second time, the couple took full advantage of the leisure to indulge their mutual love of travel, taking long road trips in the United States and Canada as well as tours and cruises to many foreign lands. Cleo predeceased Jerome in 2009. We know they are glad to be together again. He leaves behind their five children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom will miss him very much. No local services are planned. Arrangements will be made for a family memorial during the interment of their ashes at the Arlington National Cemetery in the spring, in accordance with their final wishes. If you would like to remember him with a gift to charity, please do so either to the institution of your choice or to the Miami University Foundation, 725 E. Chestnut Street, Oxford, OH 45056, noting that the gift is in memory of Jerome Rouse.