Rose M. Sims, 75, home-health-care aide who embraced life

MUSIC WAS a big part of the life of Rose M. Sims.

She sang it and she danced it.

She was a teenage dancer on "American Bandstand" before Dick Clark showed up. Over the years, she won numerous dance contests, especially for her expertise at the bop.

As a singer, her range covered gospel, R&B, jazz and the blues. She mostly sang at home, where her two daughters were her best audience.

"We loved it when she sang," said daughter Robin Sims.

Rose Sims, a Bayada home-health-care aide for 25 years, a champion cook on the barbecue grill, an active churchwoman and a devoted mother and grandmother, died Sept. 25. She was 75 and lived in Wynnefield Heights.

Rose was famed in her family for her boundless energy.

"She would be up at the crack of dawn, and everything would be popping," her daughter said. "Cooking, cleaning, helping with homework. She was a home engineer. She did it all.

"She was full of life, full of energy. We called her the 'Energizer Bunny.' She was the best mother and our best friend."

"Rose was the belle of the ball and the queen of the party," her family added. "Her high energy and beautiful smile radiated the room. She was humorous, extremely funny and the mother of wittiness. When she would tell a story, she would have you in stitches."

Rose's other daughter, Valerie Sims, said her mother's love of music inspired her to pursue a career as a singer, songwriter and arranger who has performed widely.

As a cook, Rose loved to preside over the barbecue grill. She was famed for her ribs, cornbread stuffing and gravy, sweet-potato pie and other delicacies.

The cry would go out: "Mom is making ribs!" And the family would gather.

Rose was born in Philadelphia to John Gordon and Marie Graves. She attended West Philadelphia High School and received a diploma from Bayada Home Health Care. She retired in 2008.

Rose was baptized at the former St. Michael of All Angels Episcopal Church in West Philadelphia in 1937. The church later merged with Calvary Episcopal. Rose sang on the Friendly Choir and was a chaperone for the Girl Scouts, among other activities.

Rose worked as a pressing operator for the Jantzen Sportswear Co. and as an in-house parent at the Baptist Children's Home before going with Bayada.

She always kept up with current events and was a do-it-yourself repair expert who could fix just about anything around the house that broke.

Rose won a number of awards over the years, including Bayada Homemaker of the Year and the company's Outstanding Performance Certificate, as well as two recognitions from the Chapel of the Four Chaplains and a certificate of appreciation from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

She married John H. "Bobby" Sims Jr. in 1956. He died in 1991. An earlier marriage to Alfred Batts produced a son, Alfred Batts Jr., who died in 1972.

Besides her daughters, Rose is survived by her twin sister, Annie Batts, and another sister, Eleanor Jones, and two grandchildren.

Services: 11 a.m. Friday at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, 6361 Lancaster Ave. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Fernwood Cemetery.