Funeral Service set for July 10 for Stephen Rouse, Retired Manager of Media Productions

Fri, 07/09/2021 - 10:21am | By: David Tisdale

Stephen Vincent Rouse, a retired manager of media productions with The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Office of University Communications, died July 2 in Hattiesburg. He was 60.

A funeral service for Rouse will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 10 in the chapel at Hulett-Winstead Funeral Home, located at 205 Bay St. in Hattiesburg.

A native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Rouse was a graduate of USM, earning a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and film in 1982 before joining the USM Office of Communications (formerly the Office of Marketing and Public Relations) after graduation. In a nearly three-decade career at USM, Rouse was won multiple awards for his work in film, video and photography at the local, state and national levels.

Rouse also played a key role in the marketing and promotion of Southern Miss Athletics, first as a student at the university and then throughout his career with Marketing and Public Relations and University Communications. John Cox, director of USM Broadcasting, said Rouse’s “talent, ideas and creativity was incredible, and we were so lucky to have him shine a bright light on some of the greatest athletic accomplishments of the era.”

“He worked as the engineer on our radio network for a long time, and produced some of the earliest television programming that we did,” Cox continued. “His productions always allowed people to see and hear first-hand some of the incredible things going on at USM. As the engineer on our radio broadcasts, he had a front row seat to some of the great moments in Southern Miss athletics, and helped me and our crew describe those moments.

“Steve will be greatly missed by his Southern Miss family, and his contributions will never be forgotten. We will miss him and remember everything he gave to USM. He was special-he was a Golden Eagle.”

Rouse was preceded in death by his mother, Carolyn Findley Rouse. He is survived by two daughters, Sarah Rouse Myers and Chloe Rouse Armstrong; his grandchildren, Hollis and Findley Myers; his father, William Felton Rouse; a sister, Debbie Rouse Green; and a brother, Scott Rouse.

In lieu of flowers, the Rouse family requests that memorial donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association: https://www.alz.org/.