Pearlie Louise Rouse

PEARLIE LOUISE ROUSE (AUNT PEARL) was born in Hookerton, North Carolina on June, 2, 1931. The tenth child of James and Tinnie Rouse, she entered into eternal rest on Friday, September 30, 2022. Reared in Greene County, North Carolina, she attended the local elementary school and high school in Snow Hill, North Carolina. At an early age she joined the Mt. Zion A.M.E. Zion Church of Hookerton, North Carolina. During her younger years she worked on the farm with her father until her sister became ill and she took care of her at home. After her sister’s death in 1976 her brother Collin and his wife suggested to her that she move to New Haven to start a new life for herself. She worked at the New Haven Motor Inn as a domestic worker until the City of New Haven’s Board of Education hired her at Hillhouse High School in their custodial department where she worked for 29 years. She joined St. Stephen’s A.M.E. Zion Church, Branford, Connecticut on February 28, 1982 under the leadership of Reverend William H. Webb. While a servant in the church, she was the President of the Usher Board, a Member of the Missionary Board and Treasurer of the Deaconess Board. Aunt Pearl’s favorite pastime was shopping. She would go on all types of shopping trips with her buddy Lillian Bridges. Her favorite shopping trip was to the AquaDuck Flea Market in Brooklyn, NY. She always loved to bake, especially baking cakes and sweet potato pies. One particular cake recipe she inherited from her sister-in-law Mattie Streeter Rouse (deceased) called the Friendship Cake. That cake took 30 days to make and then she would share the recipe with her friends and relatives; especially with Lillian Bridges. Another pastime was watching her soaps, General Hospital in particular at 3:00 every day. You couldn’t talk to her until it was over. She loved also to sit at the kitchen table opening her mail every day and saying, “I don’t know why they keep sending this mess.” She was an avid fan of UCONN basketball, especially the women’s team. That was she and her brother Collin’s favorite thing to do together. She was very humble and was such a giver. She will definitely be missed. She was predeceased by brothers, William Rouse, James Rouse, Jessie Lee Rouse, Raymond Rouse, Charles Rouse, Arbor Rouse and Milton Rouse; and sisters, Lossie Bell Rouse Dixon, Frances M. Rouse and Pattie M. Rouse. She leaves to cherish her memory her one and only devoted brother, Collin L. Rouse and her devoted caretaker and niece, Adrienne Rouse Senior (Cliff); nephews, Elisha Cox Johnson (Brandon), Robert Cox, Jaylen Albright and Ryan Albright; nieces, Alice Miller, Eva Gray-Morris, Nellie Robinson, Lola Bluford, Forestine Vaughn, Margie Green, Claudia Dixon, Scarlet Small, Melody Rouse, Gloria Dean Rouse, Edna Rouse, Ann Williams, Patricia Smiley and Patricia Ann Dixon; She also leaves one sister-in-law, Carrie Rouse; nephews, Henry Lawrence Dixon, John Irving Dixon, Raymond Rouse, Robert Rouse (Annette), Paul Rouse, Thomas Rouse, Ervin Rouse (Maebelle), Milton Rouse and Ernest Smiley; a surrogate mother to Isaiah Bynum; extended Family, Reverend Lubertha Hill, Beth Bynum, Joan Blondell Bynum (Sherman), Isaiah Bynum, Arthur Curtis Bynum, and Leon Bynum (Patricia). She is also survived by a host of grand nieces and nephews, relatives and friends.

Pearlie Louise Rouse

June 2, 1931 - September 30, 2022