Her obituary from the Boston Globe reads:

"Deborah Rose, a healer for the body and the spirit; at 59
By Gloria Negri, Globe Staff September 29, 2006

In her acupuncture and Chinese herbalist practices in Somerville and Providence, Deborah Rose treated countless clients over the years, men and women of all ages, to ease the symptoms of physical and emotional problems that they found traditional Western medicine couldn't help. ``I want Deborah's family and friends to know what a beautiful healer she was and how her work lives on in unaccountable ways," Joan Webb, a yoga teacher from Seekonk, said in an e-mail. Webb, who had gone to see Ms. Rose 10 years ago, said she ``gave me her full attention with kindness and skill, listened to my dreams, as well as my physical complaints, and helped me grow in a larger, healthier self." ``I remember the calm presence of her black Lab, Kali, and the sweet bond between them," he wrote. Some of the women Ms. Rose saw were undergoing traditional treatment for breast cancer but needed the added sense of peace and tranquility they found in the holistic approach of Eastern medicine that Ms. Rose, a former president of what was then the Acupuncture Society of Massachusetts, had practiced for more than 20 years. She also devoted part of her practice to working with women with problems of infertility. After she herself was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer five years ago, Ms. Rose combined acupuncture with Chinese herbalism and traditional treatment. ``She sought every available treatment that she could," said Gina Ogden, a Cambridge psychotherapist. Despite her illness, Ms. Rose continued living her busy life and saw clients until June. Ms. Rose, who called her office La Casa Rosita, the House of Healing, died of breast cancer at her Somerville home on September 4. She was 59. ``Deborah lived the life of the spirit, the life of the body, the life of the heart, the life of the mind, and life on this earth, passionately, fully, creatively and with great integrity," Dr. Susan Rako, a Newton psychiatrist, said in an e-mail. ``She was an extraordinary healer." Ms. Rose had said of her office: ``Within its walls the everyday miracles of healing and transformation continue to occur over and over." Rako said Ms. Rose's other work included research, writing, and teaching about ``the evolution of the image and role of women as expressed in the form of the Black Madonna and, in the last few years, of Mary Magdalene." Friends said that Ms. Rose felt that all perceptions of Mary Magdalene through the centuries were like a mirror of the times reflecting how culture views women. Ms. Rose produced a slide lecture, ``Her Time Has Come: Mary Magdalene in the 21st Century."
Ms. Rose and her two sisters, the children of Henry Robert and Elizabeth (Boehm) Rose, grew up on the grounds of the Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham, where their father was a business administrator. ``I think living there made us more open and compassionate to different people," said her sister, Roberta Frances Rose Benjamin of Boston. After graduating from Waltham High School in 1965, Ms. Rose enrolled at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and spent her junior year at St. Andrew's College in Edinburgh, Scotland. After graduating from Colby in 1969, she worked in publishing in New York for several years before returning to Boston. ``Debbie was a magical creature who always thought outside the box," her sister said. ``She pushed everybody's intellectual limits." Ms. Rose did that on many fronts. In the late 1960s, both sisters were active in the feminist movement, ``with Deborah involved with the more radical wing of the women's liberation movement," Benjamin said. ``She also became interested in women's health and how we should be responsible for our own wellness." In 1972, Ms. Rose and a group of women in the Ananda Massage Collective in Cambridge worked out of the old Cambridge Baptist Church, said Nadine Boughton of Medford, a former psychotherapist. It was a time when massage was controversial. The collective, a pioneer in women's health care, helped make massage therapy respectable and proved its importance in good health, Boughton said. The women studied with body therapists and the top people in the field and held workshops, she said. Ms. Rose enrolled at the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Columbia, Maryland, graduating in 1986. In the 1990s, as president of what is now the Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Society of Massachusetts, she ``spearheaded a successful legislative campaign that put acupuncture on the map of accessible healthcare," said Nancy Lipman, a Cambridge acupuncturist. Lipman said the legislation allowed consumers to choose acupuncture treatment without the diagnosis and referral of a medically trained doctor, ``which subsequently brought acupuncture to many more people in Massachusetts." ``Deborah never did anything with any kind of anger or feistiness," said Araya Fast, a Chelmsford psychotherapist. ``It was always: `Here is the situation. Let's see how we can expand this space.' " Outside her practice, Ms. Rose indulged in her lifelong love of nature and the outdoors, swimming in the ponds of Concord and in the waters off Isleboro, Maine, where she had a home. Most often, friends and her dog accompanied her swimming. She set an example. ``Deborah was a model to all of us in the way to live and in the way to die," said Cambridge colleague Health Barney. Besides her sister, Ms. Rose leaves nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge."