Agriculture student loved outdoor sports, farming

By Elliot Njus

Published Aug. 31, 2007

Joel DeRosear will be remembered as a sportsman with a passion for agriculture, his mother, Walla DeRosear, said.

Mr. DeRosear died Tuesday from cancer he was diagnosed with in 2004. He was 22 years old.

Mr. DeRosear was born May 22, 1985, to Eric and Walla (Gaines) DeRosear in Quincy, Ill.

Walla DeRosear said Mr. DeRosear, an agricultural systems management major, enjoyed visiting the family cottage in northeast Missouri.

"Joel pretty much grew up there," she said. "He took care of things there over the years. He loved it there."

She said her son loved fishing and hunting, and he collected sportsmen's guns. He also enjoyed waterskiing and was a member of the MU Water Ski and Wakeboard Club, the Agricultural Systems Management Club, the Independent Aggies and Alpha Mu, the agricultural systems management honor society.

Mr. DeRosear intended to enroll at MU as an engineering major, but he switched to agricultural systems management. Walla DeRosear said that was a much better fit for him because he had always enjoyed farming.

His roommate, Jed Edwards, said they shared a love of agriculture.

"When it gets in your blood, it's hard to get out," he said.

The two lived together at the Trowbridge Livestock Center, where they took care of the facility, Edwards said. They were allowed to live in an apartment there through the agricultural systems management program.

"He was the nicest kid I ever met," Edwards said. "And he had the best attitude."

When Mr. DeRosear attended Clark County R-1 High School, he was a member of the Future Farmers of America, the trap shooting team and the marching band.

He graduated as salutatorian of his class, but suffered a seizure the night before his commencement.

Mr. DeRosear always had a positive attitude, Walla DeRosear said. She said he had friends who he never told about his cancer. She said he wouldn't have wanted them to feel bad for him.

"To me, that's a pretty strong statement," she said. "He just didn't mope around."

Mr. DeRosear is survived by his parents, Eric and Walla DeRosear, of Kahoka, Mo.; his grandparents, Dwight and Joan DeRosear, of Memphis, Mo.; and Weldon and Edra Beach, of Leonard, Mo.