Here is the Obituary the Columbia Tribune published. th

Forrest Rose, 1956-2005

Published Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Musician and newspaper columnist Forrest Rose, a multi-talented mainstay of Columbia's cultural landscape for three decades, died suddenly early Sunday, March 20, 2005, during a band trip in Arizona. He was 48 years old.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Friday at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2615 Shepherd Blvd. The remembrance will be followed by a music celebration at 6 p.m. at The Blue Note.

Rose collapsed early Sunday morning at the home of a fellow musician. He had performed earlier in the evening in Avondale, Ariz., a community just west of Phoenix, with the nationally known bluegrass ensemble Perfect Strangers and was listening to duets with members of the group at the private residence when he was stricken. No cause of death was immediately available.

A longtime Columbia resident, Rose was born on July 6, 1956, in Dallas, the son of Earl and Marilyn Rose. He was raised in Iowa City, Iowa, the only boy in a household of five sisters: Elise, Cecile, Karen, Miriam and Carol. Survivors also include his son, Brennan Rose of Columbia; his sweetheart, Bernadette Dryden of Columbia; his former wife, Wendy Noren of Columbia; and his parents, of Iowa City.

Rose came to Columbia in 1974 to study journalism at the University of Missouri, and he stayed in town to play music and work as a reporter, assistant city editor and later a columnist for the city's afternoon daily, the Columbia Daily Tribune. He also had worked as an editor at the Columbia Missourian and most recently was an information specialist for University of Missouri extension. He graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism in 1988.

Rose wrote a weekly column for Tuesday editions of the Tribune, commenting on the community's most controversial issues with a fluid, witty style that powerfully drove home his points.

Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, called her brother "a true Renaissance man in the sense that he was a brilliant writer, humorist, accomplished musician, terrific father and friend."

"It's rare in this day and age to find someone who combines so much intelligence, political passion and courage," she says. "And yet who in so many ways was humble and, by any measure, lived an incredibly full and successful life to which most of us can only aspire."

Wendy Noren said Forrest's columns resonated in their own special way.

"He had the courage and ability to say things people need to hear - whether they want to or not," she says.

"And he did it in a way to make us laugh and cry and think."

Columbia Missourian editor John Schneller, who served as best man for Rose's wedding to Wendy Noren, said his columns were crafted to perfection. "To call Forrest Rose a wordsmith doesn't do justice to his writing skills. We'll miss his voice."

Steve Bennish, a journalist for the Dayton Daily News, said Forrest was "restless, impatient, always ready for the next big challenge, having read everything worth reading."

"He could quote Bierce and Mencken like preachers quote the Bible," he says. "No one I've ever met had quite the same peculiar passion for journalism."

Rose was just as well known for his musical prowess on the bass fiddle; his instrument was topped by a custom-carved snake's head. Rose toured with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys and with David Olney and played with Kenny Baker as well as many acclaimed old-time fiddle players.

Rose played in a legion of bands over the years, including the Mid-Missouri Hell Band, Boxbeaters, Mudbugs, Monkey Grip and, most recently, the Rank Sinatras and the blues quartet New Madrid Earthquake.

Carol Rose remembers, as a child, falling asleep at her parents' home in Iowa City to the strains of bluegrass music being played by Forrest and his friends.

"When he wrote a column or played a song, he always hit the right tone," Carol says. "He had a wide range of skills and talents. What brought them all together was that ability to hit the right tone. He had perfect pitch."

In May 1987, while visiting Nashville to audition for a rising bluegrass act, the O'Kanes, Rose had an aneurysm that left him in a coma for 16 days.

"The main effect was to draw me closer to my family. And it really clued me in to the fact that there are a lot of people who truly care,'" Rose told the Columbia Missourian's Brian Wallstin in 1991.

Wallstin wrote that Rose "exudes a sort of hillbilly hipness that straddles the line between small town and big city." A voracious reader, Rose was as comfortable quoting at length from Winston Churchill as bantering with bar patrons about their favorite bluegrass tunes.

"Aside from his incredible talent as a musician and writer, one of the things I admired most about him was his tireless ability to mentor an infinite number of friends," Dryden says. "He brought out the best in people and encouraged hidden talents. His house was a favorite stopover for friends in need of advice or consoling or a good laugh. He was the most generous person I've ever known."

Rose's proudest role was father to Brennan Noren Rose, his son with Wendy Noren. The Scholarship Fund for Brennan Rose has been set up at First National Bank, P.O. Box 1867, Columbia, Mo., 65205.




Copyright © 2005 The Columbia Daily Tribune. All Rights Reserved.