Rose Ella Langford

Rose Ella Langford

April 6, 1928 – December 3, 2024

Rose Ella was born on April 6, 1928, to Thomas Arthur Anderson and Rita Abigail (Crossan) Anderson in Ekalaka, Montana. There she and her two older brothers, Lawrence and Elmer, grew up and went to school in the small farming community on the eastern side of the state. During her childhood and into her teen years, Rose Ella had a heart condition that the doctors advised her parents would prevent her from living past her 20’s and would prevent her from ever having children. However, after graduating from high school, Rose Ella enrolled in Northwest Bible Institute and rode the train to the big city of Seattle, Washington. At the college, she met new friends. During a Bible study prayer meeting with her fellow students, she shared her medical history, and her friends prayed for her healing. Among her new friends was William Edmond Langford (Bill). She and Bill became sweethearts and after Bill’s graduation, they were married in the church his parents pastored in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada, on June 17th, 1949.

For the next four years, Bill and Rose Ella traveled with Bill’s parents holding evangelistic meetings in churches throughout the Midwest and southern United States. Then when their first son, Norman Douglas, was born, they settled in the town of Alton, Illinois across the Mississippi River from Saint Louis. Bill soon found a job and Rose Ella worked as a bookkeeper. When Bill’s parents moved to Washington state to pastor the Assembly of God church in Aberdeen, Bill and Rose Ella followed them with four-year-old son, Doug. There they added to their family with son, Donald Edmond, and daughter, Cheryl Ann. As their children grew, Rose Ella used her creative and leadership skills in becoming a Boy Scout den mother. She and Bill were also active leaders in Civil Air Patrol. When her children got older, Rose Ella went to work at the House of Fabrics at the new mall. She became manager of the store and continued working there until her retirement.

Bill and Rose Ella enjoyed traveling and one of their favorite spots was the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Upon retirement, they sold their home in Hoquiam and moved to Roy, Washington, living in their own separate home on daughter Cheryl and her husband Kurt’s property. Their plan was to spend time in their new RV motor home getting to visit the national and state parks. However, just after moving into their new home in January 1995, Bill became seriously ill and passed away in early May that year. Rose Ella turned to her hobbies of quilting, knitting and crocheting along with her embroidery machine projects and blessed her family with many keepsakes specially made just for them. She also enjoyed knitting hats for the newborns at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup and watching all the wildlife outside her home in Roy.

Rose Ella went home to her heavenly Father on December 3, 2024. She was known for her kind and sweet spirit, and she will be greatly missed. She is survived by her three children and their spouses: Doug (Dora-Lee) Langford, Donald (Becky) Langford, and Cheryl (Kurt) Hixon; her four grandchildren: Michael (Katherine) Langford, Stephen Langford, Kathleen Hixon, and Evan Langford; and her four great-grandchildren: Caitlin Langford, Mara Langford, Iris Langford, and Scarlett Langford.