I just noticed that you haven't had any response to your message here. The foliage, buds, and bloom on your rose remind me a lot of my Dr. W. Van Fleet and New Dawn, though these are pale pink. A similar white rose may be White Dawn (1949). It has fat, yellowish buds, and could be a possible ID for you.

Connie

Here is a link that might be useful: White Dawn on HMF

Geez, I don't know how I missed this post. Must have been asleep at the wheel. Very interesting rose! If it has yellow buds to white flwrs then it can't be 'Dr Van Fleet' or 'New Dawn'. 'White Dawn' is a possibility but something tells me it may not be. 'Dianah Hall' seems to be a recent rambler from New Zealand. The recurrent bloom & yellow buds are the interesting part. I'd say 'Gardenia', which has yellow buds opening to white flwrs of this shape, but it's buds are long & narrow, so that's out. Sorry if this is not of much help, but I'll look further & report if I find anything likely.

What I said in my post didn't come out right. (I hate when that happens) What I MEANT to say was that the view of the buds and foliage in the first photo is a dead-ringer for the shape of the buds and foliage on New Dawn and Dr. Van Fleet. Also, look at the shape of the half-open bloom and the delicacy of the petals, and way the petals fold back to expose the stamens as the flower ages -- I'd look into descendants of these roses for your possible ID. White Dawn was a suggestion, since that's the one I'm familiar with. We'll have to wrack our brains, and see if berrytea4me checks in to see how we've done.

Connie

Bringing offline conversation back to the post:

berrytea4me wrote to neroseman:

I doubt this helps but at one time (about 20 yrs ago when I took the cutting) my grandmother told me the name but I lost it somewhere. It was a woman's name and I remember being surprised that it wasn't something that sounded really old fashioned like "Mdme something or other". She had it planted with a "Joseph's Coat", her other favorite rose that she had tended for many years.
Grandma is 102yo next month and though she's still quite spry it's difficult to talk to her over the phone (I live in different state). If I get a chance to ask again face to face I sure will.
In the cooler weather of it's fall bloom I did notice a pleasant rose scent. New growth is bright green stems tipped with red.

AHA! we have a good clue- a woman's name. Does 'Mary Lovett' ring a bell? It's a Van Fleet-bred climber similar to 'New Dawn' but white...

Below is a link to the HelpMeFind listing for The Mary Lovett Rose, also known as White Dr. Van Fleet.

There are only two pictures to look at on the Photos tab, but it could be a match!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Mary Lovett Rose

I was just going to ask about Mary Lovett this morning when I read your post!

I was browsing Vintage Garden's list of ramblers this morning when I came across a pix of Mary Lovett that looks so much like my rose.

However, I was confused a bit when I looked it up at HMF because it listed the parentage as Rosa wichuraiana Crép. synonym à Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria instead of Dr. W. Van Fleet in it's parentage. I thought I read somewhere, possibly the nursery, that Mary Lovett was decendent of Dr. W. Van Fleet rose, not just developed by the good dr.

I think Mary Lovett is a very good possibility but where do I go from here to confirm? Need to compare buds, new growth, etc.

BTW I just found my list this morning of roses from my garden in WA state from about 20 yrs ago. Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria was a favorite rose in that garden that I was trying to recall the name. It smelled just like fresh cut pineapple. Too bad it's not hardy enough for my present climate!

Here is a link that might be useful: Vintage Garden's pix of Mary Lovett

She's sometimes called "White Van Fleet" etc., but is actually a wichurana hybrid not involving the rose 'Dr.Van Fleet'(though the look is similar). As the Vintage site says, she's one of Van Fleet's "Lovett Sisters" roses, all of which are still extremely fine, IMO.

is it Sally Holmes- my quick at a glance guess

Too many petals for Sally Holmes.

Looks very much like my 'Madame Alfred Carrere'