Obituary Note: Rose Joseph

Magic Tree owner Beth Albrecht flanked by Iris Yipp (l.) and Rose Joseph, in 2015.

Rose Joseph, former co-owner of the Magic Tree Bookstore in Oak Park, Ill., died February 11, the Chicago Tribune reported. At a memorial held for her last Friday, "there were more attendees than there were chairs," according to Iris Yipp, who founded the store with Joseph in 1984.

"Rose was amazing. I can't say enough good things about her," said Beth Albrecht, who bought Magic Tree from Joseph and Yipp in 2015. "I'm just trying to keep, to tend this beautiful thing they created."

Yipp recalled that they wanted to open a neighborhood place and decided on a multicultural bookstore. "We kind of created this wonderful space where families could come," she said. "It was sort of more than a store."

"She really had an eye for the opportunity," said Aaron Joseph, her son. A multicultural children's bookstore "was something that was not represented in the market when we were kids, in the '70s and '80s.... She was an interesting woman, because in many ways, she was a revolutionary... but she had none of the aggressive personality that sometimes accompanies that."

"She touched so many lives: children and whole families," said Albrecht, whose own children grew up visiting the book shop. "I hope I'm half as good at this as she was.... Her creative spirit lives on in the store."

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