Rose Lau

According to her certified Record of Birth, Rose was born 18 Oct 1913 on Iwilei Road in Honolulu. However, she always claimed 08 Sep 1913 as her birth date. Her name was recorded as Rose Lyu on her birth record; yet that name never showed up on subsequent documentation. Some of her aliases were: Rose Chong, Rosa Chong, Rose Long, Rose Lau Chung, and Rose Long Lew.

She and her sister were taken to the Kalihi Valley Orphanage on 27 Jul 1918, following their father's death. They remained there until the spring of 1920, when they were released to the custody of their mother and step-father.

Rose dropped out of school prior to seventh grade and worked as a waitress, cocktail waitress, and bar matron at places such as: The Ted Lewis Inn and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. She married Anthony DeCOSTA 02 Oct 1929 at his barracks at Ft. Ruger. Their daughter, Patricia DeCOSTA, was born 14 May 1930 at Tripler General Hospital. Rose and Anthony divorced in 1938. She then married Virgil Lee KENNEDY on 17 Jul 1939. They remained in Honolulu until following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when Rose and her two children were sent to live with family in Santa Clara County, California.

They returned to Honolulu before Virgil was stationed in Astoria, Oregon, in the early 1950's. They purchased a house in Reseda, California, where they lived from the late 1950's until 1964. Rose was granted a real estate license, but did not pursue real estate as a career. They moved to Simi Valley, California, where she took up golf, winning several championships and hitting three holes-in-one in one year. In 1970 she gave up golf for Arabian horses. She rode, bred, and exhibited her horses until her death in 1978.

Although she had little formal schooling she was an avid reader and able to perfect many things, including: playing the ukulele, piano, and organ; sewing; flower arranging; hula dancing; crocheting; knitting; embroidery; cooking; formal entertaining; oil painting; golf; and horseback riding.