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Grinnellians remember Rose-Palermo

"Nonconformist" former Grinnell student died in Arizona last week

by Lola Garcia

A former Grinnell student died in a bizarre drowning incident this past Valentine's Day.

John Rose-Palermo, formerly '05, was 23 when he plunged into river of an Arizona bridge last week.

According to police reports, he dove into 12-15 feet of water wearing only boxer shorts and tennis shoes and drowned before friends could save him.

Police are still investigating why Rose-Palermo dove into the water during his last semester at Arizona State University.

Rose-Palermo attended McClintock High in Arizona and Northern Arizona University before transferring to Grinnell and majoring in philosophy.

"John was an original," said friend Cain Elliot '06 of Rose-Palermo's range of interests.

Rose-Palermo was an active student while attending the college. He was an athlete who played both rugby and football. "He was just a real friendly young man who enjoyed as much being out and being with a group of teammates as he did playing in ballgames," Coach Greg Wallace told The Arizona Republic.

Another former football player remembered Rose-Palermo as someone who enjoyed the fellowship of his team even if he was not the top player. "He was a really energetic guy who was happy most of the time," Franklin Gilmore-Metz '06 told the Arizona paper.

He was also an active member of the debate team and competed in the National Parliamentary Debate Association Tournament in 2003.

But even as he was always busy, Rose-Palermo's friends remembered his casual approach to life. "He was perpetually riding the wave of ?right now,' just doing his thing," said friend Adam Lake '06. "He'd always made everyone else's plans for life look like lousy attempts at adventure."

Still, Rose-Palermo struggled with the Grinnell community and according to some his experience here was tumultuous.

"[The Grinnell community] did not want to take the time to interact with a person who did not conform to the unstated rules that govern our actions," said Elliott. "Football players aren't supposed to be sensitive intellectuals. Vegetarians aren't supposed to be rugby players who spend their evenings with Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty."

Personal problems also haunted Rose-Palermo and friends say he struggled with drug use. Elliott said that the Rose-Palermo's inability to resist "the intoxication of drugs" wasn't hurt by Grinnell students' acceptance of marijuana use.

"Saying this would have certainly pissed off John," explained Elliott, "but I think it's up to us to make something valuable of his life."

Other friends point out that Rose-Palermo simply wanted to do something else with his life. "It didn't surprise too many people when he dropped out to play poker around the world," said Lake.

After transferring at the end of 2004, Rose-Palermo returned to his home state of Arizona and spent time with his mother in San Diego and planned to eventually travel the world playing poker. He worked for a time at a pizza parlor in Mesa, Arizona before enrolling at Arizona State in fall 2005 in order to finish a degree in architectural studies.

Even after leaving his pursuit of philosophy, friends remembered Rose-Palermo for his thoughtfulness and long conversations.

Lake recalls a visit last year to Rose-Palermo in Arizona over spring break. "He still had big plans," Lake recalled. "We stayed up that night making toasts in all the languages we knew, until we couldn't stand up."

"I will miss conversations till three in the morning over topics ranging from the kind of fathers we hoped to become, to how often we should wash our socks," said Elliot. "John was an acquired taste well worth the time and effort."

Rose-Palermo was buried on Monday in his parents' hometown in Arizona following a service at Mount Carmel Catholic Church.

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