Suzanne Winter-Rose remembers well the day she met Bess Lucking.
It was September 2023 and Winter-Rose, a Rapp at Home volunteer, had been told about a 99-year-old woman living atop White Rose Mountain, near Sperryville. The woman — Winter-Rose heard — wasn’t much interested in having a visitor stop by for occasional chats. No, she was looking for someone with whom she could regularly dine out for Saturday lunch.
Winter-Rose, who’s 83, was intrigued. But she thought it made sense to first see if her Subaru Outback could make it up what she’d been told was a steep driveway on the mountain.
“So I put the address in my GPS, and followed it up there and saw this house has a spiral staircase, and I’m thinking this can’t be right,” she said. “I’m sitting in my car looking up there, and this little lady comes to the door and waves at me.
“I got out of my car and said, ‘Are you Bess?’ and she said, ‘Yes, I am.’”
And so began a friendship neither could have anticipated.
Suzanne Winter-Rose, 83, behind the wheel of her Subaru Outback, on a mission of friendship for a 99-year-old woman named Bess Lucking. (Photo/Luke Christopher)
Lucking has lived on that mountaintop for 16 years. She and her husband, John, had lived in Florida, but when he developed dementia, their son, Robert, owner of Lucking Woodwork, suggested they move to Rappahannock. The plan was that he would have a home built for them near his house, and he would help care for his father.
But after they sold their Florida home, and before they came north, John died. Bess made the move alone.
In time, she started visiting the Senior Center — she proudly pointed out that she’s the oldest person to go there. And now, on Saturdays, there are the lunches with Winter-Rose. “I’d be lonely otherwise,” she conceded.
It didn’t take long for her and Winter-Rose to connect. “Suzanne, she’s something,” Lucking said. “She comes all the way up the mountain to pick me up and brings me all the way back. And she holds on to me to make sure I don’t fall.
“She’s out of this world.”
Winter-Rose, who lives in Slate Mills, said she checks in with Lucking on Saturday mornings to see if they’re good to go. Initially, they would take turns picking the type of restaurant. Now, they usually go with Lucking’s choice.
“I’d say, ‘I was thinking that Italian place sounds nice’ and she’d say, ‘And maybe Chinese, too,’” laughed Winter-Rose. “We’d end up going Chinese.”
Once they’re seated they have what Winter-Rose described as “lovely conversations.”
Suzanne Winter-Rose, 83, a Rapp at Home volunteer, departs from the home of Bess Lucking, 99, on top of a mountain for their weekly lunch. (Photo/Luke Christopher)
“We talk about the weather. We talk about what’s going on in our lives. You know, girlfriend talk.”
Winter-Rose said she once told a friend that she takes a little old lady out to lunch. To which he replied, “Suzanne, you do understand you’re a little old lady.”
“Well, yes,” she said. “But I’m just trying to stay ahead of the Grim Reaper.”
So, for that matter, is Lucking. “I’ve really been blessed,” she said. “My memory is good. I’m in good health. I feed myself. I order my own medication. I have my own checkbook and pay my own bills.”
As for Winter-Rose, she’s impressed with her older friend. “She’s become a role model for me.”
