With grafting, a rose that is that old and had neglected care especially in zone 6 would have died down to the rootstock, and it would most likely be blooming red today.
Now, on the other hand, since the lady had tons of roses planted all over, she clearly was mail ordering some fancy stuff and therefore much of it was probably grafted. So that is a toss up.
There is a house up the road from me here that has huge bushes, they bloom only once a year and then intermediately after that, and were planted in the early seventies. They are most certainly own root roses, and not grafted. The house has sat empty now for several years, and even with our bad winters, no mulch or care whatsoever, they are thriving- in my experience grafted roses don't do that in areas with cold winters especially. I would not plant a grafted rose, own roots or none at all as they just don't survive long term.
