Rose Williams was recognized as one of the matriarchs of modern Dineh pottery and was considered a living treasure. Born in 1915, she was of the Reed People clan. A very traditional Dineh woman who spoke only a few words of English, she lived in Cow Springs, in the Tonalea section of Arizona, in a small frame house.

Rose was trained by her aunt, Grace Barlow. Her early pieces were made for utilitarian use: for hundreds of years Dineh clay-work was made specifically for domestic or ceremonial use only - and many Dineh used Rose as a source for ceremonial pottery. However, the majority of her pottery was made for the marketplace. In the 1980s she began making large cylindrical jars, some measuring more than 24" in height and 12" in diameter. They became her specialty product.

Various family members helped Rose with the collection of the clay and polishing and pitching of the pots. They dug the brown-firing clay from a special place near Black Mesa, screened it to eliminate impurities, and mixed it with sand for temper. Rose used the coil technique to build her pottery, decorating sparsely, perhaps adding a biyo' (a traditional decorative fillet around the rim). She worked in a brush shelter next to her house, firing in a cast-iron stove. The pots were finished inside and out with a coat of pine pitch.

Rose taught successive generations the tradition of Dineh pottery making, including Faye Tso, Silas Claw, Louise Goodman, and Lorena Bartlett. Her three daughters, Alice Williams Cling, Susie Williams Crank, and Sue Williams, are recognized potters, as is her daughter-in-law Lorraine Williams.

Although she herself never entered her work in any shows, dealers and collectors often entered her work for her. Rose earned awards at the Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial in Gallup, New Mexico, at the Navajo Craftsman Exhibition at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, and at the Heard Museum in Phoenix. Rose did not sign her work until she was well into her eighties.