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(c) 2017 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Rose Fay Thomas
(c) 2017 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
(c) 2017 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Rose Fay Thomas

1852 - 1929
BiographyRose Fay arrived in Chicago in 1878, taking up residence with her brother Charles. She became acquainted with Frances Glessner through her sister Amy, an accomplished pianist, and one of the first women to study in Europe. In May of 1890, Rose married Theodore Thomas, the nationally-recognized music director who had brought his celebrated orchestra to Chicago annually since 1869. Soon after, Thomas accepted the position to establish a permanent orchestra in Chicago, the present day Chicago Symphony Orchestra, now celebrating its 125th anniversary season.
Rose Fay arrived in Chicago in 1878, taking up residence with her brother Charles. She became acquainted with Frances Glessner through her sister Amy, an accomplished pianist, and one of the first women to study in Europe. In May of 1890, Rose married Theodore Thomas, the nationally-recognized music director who had brought his celebrated orchestra to Chicago annually since 1869. Soon after, Thomas accepted the position to establish a permanent orchestra in Chicago, the present day Chicago Symphony Orchestra, now celebrating its 125th anniversary season.
Two years later, the Thomases completed their home, Felsengarten, on the property, with Rose Thomas personally supervising much of the work. From this point forward, they spent much of their summer at their beloved summer estate, as neighbors of John and Frances Glessner. Rose Thomas became an accomplished gardener, frequently sharing plants with Frances Glessner, and in 1904 Rose Thomas published an account of her estate, entitled Our Mountain Garden, a copy of which she presented to Frances Glessner for Christmas.
Rose Thomas was passionate about the abolition of cruelty toward animals. In January 1899, she convened a small group of ladies to organize what evolved into the Anti-Cruelty Society. Two months later, by-laws were adopted, and Rose Thomas was appointed president, one of the first women to head a Humane Society in the country.

(Today, the Rose Fay Thomas Society recognizes those individuals who have made planned gifts for the ongoing support of the Anti-Cruelty Society).

Theodore Thomas died of pneumonia on January 4, 1905, just two weeks after the official opening of Orchestra Hall. His widow soon gave up their home at 43 Bellevue Place, moving to an apartment at 2000 S. Indiana Avenue, just a few blocks from the Glessners. Before the move, she came to stay with the Glessners for much needed rest, Frances Glessner noting:

“Mrs. Thomas came in the afternoon to stay with us. She brought her little dog. She was perfectly worn out with all the hard work and anxiety she has gone through. I gave her the big corner room with a bright fire in it – and have left her alone as much as possible. She says it is the first rest she has had since October and has visibly improved since coming.”

She remained a champion of her husband’s work and in 1911 published Memoirs of Theodore Thomas, dedicating the volume to her brother Charles Norman Fay, “the best and truest friend of Theodore Thomas and the chief promoter of his art.”

When she died in 1929, she was given a military funeral in recognition of her significant service assisting enlisted men as a director of the Soldiers and Sailors Club. She was the first woman in New England and only the fourth in the United States to be accorded a military funeral up to that time. She was interred beside her husband at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Today, the Anti-Cruelty Society and the National Federation of Music Clubs serve as the enduring legacy of this fascinating and inspiring individual.
https://www.glessnerhouse.org/story-of-a-house/2016/3/21/rose-fay-thomas accessed 10/24/2017
Person TypeIndividual
Last Updated8/7/24
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