Rose Greaves Obituary

Rose Louise Greaves, age 92, passed away Sunday April 9, at Pioneer Ridge in Lawrence. She was born February 12, 1925 in Shawnee, KS, the daughter of Ernest and Irene Coughlin.

Rose, Professor Emeritus of History and Professor of Russia and East European Studies, was a student of the Middle East for over a quarter of a century. She was an expert on petroleum and oil in the Iran area and worked extensively with the United States Military as a professor of Military History.

Her grandmother was one of the first women to attain a college education in the state of Kansas; she graduated with a BA from Baker University in 1888. Rose continued this legacy by attending the University of Kansas. She was a student in KU's History department at a very interesting and transitional period of study, just after World War II ended. She was one of the founding members and the first President of the KU Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, an international history honor society. She graduated with her BA in 1947, her MA in 1949, and her Ph.D. in British History in 1952. She earned a second Ph.D. from the University of London in 1953 on a Fulbright scholarship. She also received a Carnegie Foundation European Center Research Fellowship and a 1975-76 Research Fellowship from the American Association of University Women.

Professor Greaves began teaching at the University of Kansas in 1968. Other faculty appointments in her career included Bedford College at the University of London, the University of Toronto, St. Anthony's College at the University of Oxford, as a visiting scholar at Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge, and the University of Pittsburgh's Semester at Sea programs.

From 1959-67, Professor Greaves worked as Company Librarian for the British Petroleum Company Ltd. From this experience she built a research career off of her expertise on that industry and Iran. Her writings on Persia (Iran) were published in a number of books and magazines. She was called upon to present seminars in Rome on the changing balance of the Persian Gulf and oil price problems. For her research projects, she traveled widely in the Middle East and Central Asia. These forays included a year-long stay in Lebanon to study Arabic and the retracing of the route of a 19th century British soldier-scholar in the mountains of Pakistan. Professor Greaves was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of England, as well as an elected member and the American Secretary of the Royal Central Asian Society.

Professor Greaves worked extensively with the United States Military. For her work as a visiting professor, she received Service Awards in 1987 from the Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in 1993 from the US Military Academy at West Point. In 1996, General John Mountcastle, Army Chief of Military History in Washington, D.C. travelled to KU to present her with a U.S. Army Award for Public Service; she was a member of the Advisory Committee to the Office of the Chief of Military History and completed a four-year tour of service with them. Although she became a Professor Emeritus in 2001, she continued to be active on work over the conflicts with Afghanistan and the Taliban in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.

While teaching in the History Department of Bedford College she met Robert Greaves who was a Reader in History. They married in December of 1955 and lived in England until 1967, at which time they left for United States via Canada. In 1968 they moved permanently to Lawrence.

Her personal life was filled with animals. She especially loved dogs – collies and shelties were amongst her favorites. She was known for rescuing any animal that needed a home. If a stray showed up at her house, they had a home for life. She was also passionate about horses and at one time had five, several of which were Mustangs rescued from the range. She was preceded in death by more dogs, cats and horses than can be listed. At the time of her death she had two dogs, Jethro and Elkie and three cats, Pinky, Falcon and Felix.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Irene and Ernest Coughlin, her husband, Robert and her brother, William. She is survived by her niece Teresa Torab and grand-niece Arya of Boulder, CO and many loving cousins and friends.

Her family suggests memorials to the Lawrence Humane Society.