Serves: 5

Rose Maurine Neeleman was born and educated in Salt Lake City, Utah, the eldest of nine children. She studied four years at the University of Utah earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and her Masters Degree in Community Education from Brigham Young University in Provo Utah.

She married Gary J. Neeleman in 1957 and traveled with him to New York, and subsequently to Brazil, in his capacity as a foreign-based correspondent for United Press International in São Paulo, Brazil. She went to Brazil with a five-month old son, and returned seven years later with three additional Brazilian-born children. While in Brazil she traveled extensively throughout Latin America with her husband, Gary, as he covered the region for UPI.

Rose had the unique experience and challenge not only of raising a young family in a foreign country, but also of supporting and accompanying her husband, in his unusual and demanding work as a foreign correspondent, in one of the most complex areas of the world. She learned to speak, read, and write the Portuguese language and has authored many articles on Brazil and Community Education in the third world. She has spoken to many church, educational and women’s groups throughout the hemisphere. Her Masters project in Community Education in Bolivia resulted in a Charles F. Mott Foundation Community Education grant for Latin America, totaling over a million and a half dollars.

Rose taught a popular non-credit class for the Brigham Young University Extension Division for over 20 years, to over 20,000 women about marriage and family relations, and she authored a book, from her class notes, Far Above Rubies, printed by Brigham Young University Publications.

She is the mother of seven children and has thirty-two grandchildren. Rose still travels extensively with her husband around the world. She assisted her husband in the preparation of his research, Farewell My South, concerning the immigration of United States Confederates to Brazil in 1865. The subject was sold to Bantam Publishing Company in 1985, was published by Bantam that same year as a novel. The couple is now working on a new non-fiction version of the same subject.

Among her family and friends, Rose is endearingly looked upon as one of those all too rare “good cooks.” Much of this special gift comes from years of experience working with her family in their Los Angeles-based catering company. She has always had the courage to try something new and her frequent travels have given her a wealth of material to draw upon. Her children are also excellent cooks.

More Recipes from the A Taste of Brazil Cookbook:
Acknowledgments
An Adventure In Brazilian Cooking
Brazilian Ingredients
The Authors: Rose Maurine Neeleman
The Authors: Gary John Neeleman