I had connected with Dana about 4 years ago via email and by email with his brother. He had a difficult life as an adult as Chris explained to me. I chose to remember his ear to ear grin as we moved into the Penn dormitory our freshman year. He roomed with Scott Reid and a strange, guitar playing Dylan fan whom nobody liked. I was 3 doors down the hall with an equally strange fanatic whom I never spoke to. I could never understand why Penn just didn’t let the 3 of us live together. Davis Gammon was across the courtyard. Dana hated Penn and being in the city. He so much wanted the bucolic countryside of Princeton. It was an eventful year that ended badly when Dana was asked not to return for sophomore year. We stayed in touch for 2 years thru a fellow classmate, Bob Watt whose brother , Jeff was L’ville 67. Bob left Penn for the Navy, thank you Vietnam. And I lost track of both of them.
Dana was unforgettable, his smile, his laugh, the nutty life we led as freshman at Penn Unfortunately I think he just never wanted to grow up. May he Rest In Peace
I lost contact with Dana shortly after we left Lawrenceville as I went to college in Florida and never returned to NJ... I met Dana my 1st day in Lawrenceville in Sept. 1960 as he had a "cube" across from mine in Cromwell... He was a great friend, and we had fun away from Lawrenceville since our homes were about 20 minutes from each other... As soon as we got our licenses we spent time in Asbury Park listening to the Beach Boys and the Stones & just having a good time... I have spent years volunteering with the homeless in Miami, and I do understand how difficult that can be... Dana is in a better place now, but I still wish he were with us...
I was in Dickinson House with Dana. A few of us, including Dana, Peter Dailey, and myself, would occasionally make small talk with a couple of the guys who worked as hired help in our kitchen. Dana was a wrestler (he would later co-captain the team), and one of the kitchen workers said he had done some wrestling himself. After a bit more talk, it was decided the two would have a match, early one morning, in back of the House. Word spread across campus, bets were made, and fight day finally arrived. A small crowd of maybe 20 gathered out back, and Dana and his opponent went at it. Dana seemed to be having the best of it, but loud cheering brought out Mr. Keller, our Housemaster, who intervened and brought the match to a halt. It was all in good fun, but each of us received a stern warning not to fraternize witht the help, who of course were all black, in the last year before the first black student was admitted to the school.
I'm so sad to hear about Dana and the circumstances of his passing. We were great pals at Lawrenceville and roomates at Penn freshman year. As Tony said, he didn't really want to be there.. We had a great time in the evenings but he simply didn't want to go go class. His days were spent learning to play with squash with Wellsy and listening to music. Tony , Davis and I couldn't convince him to seriously give it a go . He was totally capable of making it a success but he simply didn't want to. After he left we met occasionally in NYC and double dated. I remember he had a couple of lovely girlfriends and the evenings were great fun. He particularly liked a place called the Monkey Bar where we drank too much. Stingers were our favorite. I cant remember what he did at that time or where he lived and so we lost track of each other . I learned from Davis Gammon a few years ago that he was living on the street and decided to try to find him but we weren't able to or he didn't want to be found. Somehow he lost his way after leaving Lawreceville . It's really too bad, such a wonderful guy should have had a better luck. I'll always remember him as he was in the early days, a great mate with a great smile.
Matt Dominy
Reported by TK Heatley from Dana's Brother Chris. Dana passed on Christmas Eve 2016.
Tony Sapienza
Classmates,
I had connected with Dana about 4 years ago via email and by email with his brother. He had a difficult life as an adult as Chris explained to me. I chose to remember his ear to ear grin as we moved into the Penn dormitory our freshman year. He roomed with Scott Reid and a strange, guitar playing Dylan fan whom nobody liked. I was 3 doors down the hall with an equally strange fanatic whom I never spoke to. I could never understand why Penn just didn’t let the 3 of us live together. Davis Gammon was across the courtyard. Dana hated Penn and being in the city. He so much wanted the bucolic countryside of Princeton. It was an eventful year that ended badly when Dana was asked not to return for sophomore year. We stayed in touch for 2 years thru a fellow classmate, Bob Watt whose brother , Jeff was L’ville 67. Bob left Penn for the Navy, thank you Vietnam. And I lost track of both of them.
Dana was unforgettable, his smile, his laugh, the nutty life we led as freshman at Penn Unfortunately I think he just never wanted to grow up. May he Rest In Peace
TONY
Richard Tuggle
Dana Roze was a great guy, visited my parents and me in Florida on spring break.
Four years ago his brother Chris told me Dana was a homeless person in San Francisco. It sounded like the end was near.
richard tuggle
T. K. Heatley
I lost contact with Dana shortly after we left Lawrenceville as I went to college in Florida and never returned to NJ... I met Dana my 1st day in Lawrenceville in Sept. 1960 as he had a "cube" across from mine in Cromwell... He was a great friend, and we had fun away from Lawrenceville since our homes were about 20 minutes from each other... As soon as we got our licenses we spent time in Asbury Park listening to the Beach Boys and the Stones & just having a good time... I have spent years volunteering with the homeless in Miami, and I do understand how difficult that can be... Dana is in a better place now, but I still wish he were with us...
Jon Chase
I was in Dickinson House with Dana. A few of us, including Dana, Peter Dailey, and myself, would occasionally make small talk with a couple of the guys who worked as hired help in our kitchen. Dana was a wrestler (he would later co-captain the team), and one of the kitchen workers said he had done some wrestling himself. After a bit more talk, it was decided the two would have a match, early one morning, in back of the House. Word spread across campus, bets were made, and fight day finally arrived. A small crowd of maybe 20 gathered out back, and Dana and his opponent went at it. Dana seemed to be having the best of it, but loud cheering brought out Mr. Keller, our Housemaster, who intervened and brought the match to a halt. It was all in good fun, but each of us received a stern warning not to fraternize witht the help, who of course were all black, in the last year before the first black student was admitted to the school.
Jon Chase
Scott Reid
I'm so sad to hear about Dana and the circumstances of his passing. We were great pals at Lawrenceville and roomates at Penn freshman year. As Tony said, he didn't really want to be there.. We had a great time in the evenings but he simply didn't want to go go class. His days were spent learning to play with squash with Wellsy and listening to music. Tony , Davis and I couldn't convince him to seriously give it a go . He was totally capable of making it a success but he simply didn't want to. After he left we met occasionally in NYC and double dated. I remember he had a couple of lovely girlfriends and the evenings were great fun. He particularly liked a place called the Monkey Bar where we drank too much. Stingers were our favorite. I cant remember what he did at that time or where he lived and so we lost track of each other . I learned from Davis Gammon a few years ago that he was living on the street and decided to try to find him but we weren't able to or he didn't want to be found. Somehow he lost his way after leaving Lawreceville . It's really too bad, such a wonderful guy should have had a better luck. I'll always remember him as he was in the early days, a great mate with a great smile.