Crowds Gather For John’s Goodbye
Safety, UCF Greek Life, Videos — By Jennifer Evans on October 20, 2009 at 2:00 pmFriends and brothers of John Grosso gathered Monday night to say goodbye at a candlelight vigil on his fraternity’s front lawn.
Grosso, 21, a UCF student and member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, died in a tragic car accident on Oct. 16 on Tanner Road, directly behind UCF.
“I couldn’t believe it, I dropped my stuff and I just walked out and I was in shock,” said Ryan Kaufman, his ATO big brother. “It still really hasn’t hit me. I’m sure it will hit me at the funeral.”
During the vigil, ATO fraternity brothers handed out candles, read from the bible, and allowed friends to come up and speak about John. Many spoke about their personal experiences with him, and how he still influences them every day.
“He brought happiness,” Kauffman said. “Hands down, was the happiest kid I have ever met. Always had a smile on his face, I could be having the worst day, I’d just call him, go over his house, hang out with him, even talk to him on the phone. We had the exact same humor, and that’s why I loved him so much.”
John Grosso’s fun, positive impact he had on his friends and family, is what they say will keep his memory alive.
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11 Comments
I love you John and you ARE a wonderful person. You are one of the best things that has happened to our family! You are in heaven and with God now. Rest in peace HONEY… Rest in peace!!
Dear Jose,
I only knew you for a few years. You were John’s best friend and I know John loved you very much.
I remember taking pictures for both of you at Homecoming one year. You both looked so handsome! I let you guys take my car to go driving around and I am sure you were both scoping out the girls! You guys said you had a great time that night. I am so glad I was able to help you both have a great homecoming night. May you rest in peace sweetheart!
May God bless both of you and keep you safe in his arms…
Love Tia
God Bless you, Admin for taking those terrible and hurtful comments off your page.
Shame on you John Jeffries – Angel Martinez- Miguel Cabrera
- Jose’s friend- RIP Jose- Steve Drago- Anthony H.- tracy- logical thinking- devaneys regular- ucf greek- your best source
or who ever you are!
You are the devil and God himself will take care of you!
Im very happy you have deleted the comments from John Jeffries . Friends of Jose & John did research on this and that is his name. What an awful person to pray on the minds of people who are mourning the loss of these 2 wonderful boys.
We have done some investigation and have been able to determine whoever was “Your Best Source” was also posing as Jose’s family, Greeks, and Devaney’s customers.
We don’t know this person’s identity, but we got an e-mail from a John Jeffries saying very similar things. The e-mail Jeffries used bounced back, so we don’t even know if it’s a real name.
We don’t have the manpower to continually monitor comments for spam like this person was posting, so if people like him keep abusing the comments, we may have to remove the feature or require registration.
Here is a list of names we were able to determine this guy was using:
- Angel Martinez
- Miguel Cabrera
- Jose’s friend
- RIP Jose
- Steve Drago
- Anthony H.
- tracy
- logical thinking
- devaneys regular
- ucf greek
- your best source
We want to exchange the free flow of ideas and encourage discussion, but if you are spamming and misrepresenting yourself, it could ruin it for everyone.
If someone can help us get a hold of “John Jeffries” please e-mail: news@knightnews.com
If you are damning his family to hell for defending their amazing nephew then you two are driving the bus!
I am the writer of this story. We are KnightNews.com and we focus on UCF news. The story focuses on John Grosso because he was a UCF student and an active member of the UCF community. We could not find anything on Jose nor we were we able to get in touch with his family, therefore, we cannot speak on his behalf. There was no known vigil held for Jose, otherwise KnightNews.com would have been there. This is why the story is about John Grosso. Nevertheless, both men were victims in this tragic accident. I appreciate everyone’s comments on this story. It is not a blog. Thank you.
Shame on you, Angel. Jose would not want you to say these things about his best friend. It was a horrible accident, and Jose could have been driving, and it would have resulted in the same. John WAS a wonderful person, as was Jose. They were great friends, and were loved by many.
Thanks everyone for sending the pictures of John and Jose. I received a lot of both of them. I know the families will appreciate it. I will continue to accept pictures up until the end of this month. After that, I will be forwarding the pictures to John and Jose’s family. Thanks again for your help. God bless you all!
As an immediate family member of John, A/K/A Aunt Tammy, I would greatly appreciate it if you would stop leaving ANY comments about the bar. It is not about the bar, it is about my dear Nephew John and his best friend, Jose, who lost their lives. I understand your point as to not drinking too much. I understand your point as to not drink and drive. I also understand that you feel by writing your comments it will help awareness to drinking and driving; however, our family is in major mourning for my awesome Nephew whom we had the most difficult time burying yesterday. I would appreciate it if you would please post your comments elsewhere. I have every intention to save and print this information for our Family so that we can have a copy of wonderful comments that OUR friends, family, and John’s friends have posted about my Nephew.
To everyone who has been so awesome in supporting our family in this terrible time, please keep sending your comments, it DOES comfort our family.
I would appreciate it if EVERYONE would not respond to this person’s comments about the bar. This will just encourage this person to keep writing these comments. Let’s pretend he or she is not there, maybe eventually this person will crawl back from under the rock in which he/she came from.
This will be my only reply to this topic!
Dear John,
I miss you tremendously. Your smile, your laugh, your being…! Our Family will NEVER be the same. We miss you SO much! I know you are in heaven and you will be watching over us. Whenever we smile, laugh, or feel the wind blow, we will think of you. When the bright sun shines down on our face, we will think of you! Please give the ones who passed before you a hug and kiss for us. Saying goodbye is so hard, but we know you are in good hands. I thank you for the privilege of being your Tia. I have such wonderful memories of you.
I remember when you were about 7 years old and we were driving to the ice skating rink. You were such a chatter box in the car. You talked and talked and talked some more. There was no shutting you up. It was blah, blah, blah. We couldn’t hear ourselves think. Tio David decided to play a game, it was called who could be quiet the longest. One, Two, Three go… Not a second later your dad says “Are we starting yet?” Bam!!! Tio David yelled, “John, your Dad’s a loser.” You got so upset, you started yelling and crying, “My dad is not a loser!” You were so mad at Tio. Tio was on your crap list for several days after that. I remember this past Christmas writing this exact same information in your Christmas card!! You read it and laughed saying “That’s funny!” I still remember seeing your face laughing. That is a memory I will always hold dear to my heart!
The last time I saw you was a few months ago when you came to the office to have your teeth cleaned. You are such a handsome man! Before you left, you asked how your Tio was doing. Isn’t that just like you? You were always concerned about other people. (Baby, that is one of the things that made you so special!) I remember telling you goodbye and telling you that I loved you… You said with your wonderful smile, “I love you too, Tia.” That is the smile and words I have to hold on to… I love you, Baby, and I will see you again some day…
P.S.
Please tell God we really need His support right now. This is so difficult for all of us. Please pray for us to find peace… We ALL love you, Baby!!!
It’s quite interesting how people not involved in tragedies seem to try to find some sense of belonging in the situation by randomly posting what they believe are facts allegedly associated with the situation. I learned about these types of people in my psychology class, and they tend to have a neglected upbringing leading to a feeling of social displacement throughout their life. To whomever posted that trying to factualize a situation you were not a part of, please go get a hobby and if you’re goig to gossip, do it about things you at least have the slightest clue about. Rest in peace Grosso, and to the sweethearts of ATO, my prayers and love are always with you.
Though some of your statements may be true; however, you really and truly have NO IDEA what you are talking about. Were you there? Probably not. Get your facts straight before you place the blame on people.