If it was sentimental to the previous owner they would have taken it with them.

It is your property now, do as you wish.

Can't help you with roses though, I avoid the disease magnets. Plants as unhardy as roses are an unnatural oddity.

It's most likely an old garden rose....not a disease magnate at all. It's spectacular when it blooms, but it only blooms once a year. I'll bet, from your description it's a "Harrison's Yellow". I have one that has been on this property forever.
Periodically...best after it blooms in late May where I live, I cut about 1/3 of the canes to the ground. If your's has been neglected, cut 2/3 of the canes to the ground. It blooms on old wood, so don't cut it all down or you will only have a green sticker bush!
You could also try to transplant some of it to a better location...mine is in a loop in my perennial border.
Don't get rid of it until you have seen it bloom and given it a year or more to get it into shape.
It's totally carefree but for pruning to keep in from over running the plave. Needs no spraying, doesn't get black spot and is one of the very desirable "Antique Garden Roses"
Give it a chance.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: Harrison's yellow

Choose the right rose for the location, & it's a beautiful enrichment to the garden/landscape...
not sickly, not high maintenance, not a disease magnet.

Where I live, for instance, Martha Gonzales, Belinda's Dream, The Fairy, Lavender Lassie, Graham Thomas, Mrs B R Cant, La Marque, & Seafoam all grow & bloom beautifully with no spraying, almost no pruning, & very little watering.

But I couldn't grow a Gallica or a Hybrid Tea unless I built it a greenhouse & hired it a nanny!

Linda gave good advice.

sylvia

ps: "Natural" & "unnatural" are such value-laden words...

Bubonic plague, botulism, & poison ivy are natural.

Hybrids are unnatural, but without them we wouldn't have Siamese cats, Thoroughbred horses, beefsteak tomatoes, or okra without fuzz!

I, another novice, also inherited a rose bush when I bought my house last year. I trimmed the dead wood in the late summer/early fall, but I recently noticed that there is still some dead wood on it. Is it okay to prune or should I wait? It hasn't started to bloom yet but there are tons of leaves on it. Thanks for any advice!

It's always OK to trim out something that's dead any time.
Linda C