Published Wednesday

March 27, 2002

Rainbow Rowell: Tragedy cuts short a special girl's life

BY RAINBOW ROWELL                                                                                                                                               

WORLD-HERALD COLUMNIST

RoseAnn Incontro must have thought they sounded like a hundred broken records, all those earnest adults who cornered her and gave her the same speech:

RoseAnn, you're special.  The sky is the limit for you.

RoseAnn was special.  Really, truly, one-in-a-million special.  You met her, and you just knew - this kid could do anything.  This kid could fly.

Could. Did. Was.

RoseAnn is dead.  Killed March 15 in a car crash.  The guy in the other vehicle is charged with drunken driving.

It's always a tragedy when a kid dies like this.  It's always a loss.  But for everyone who knew the 15-year-old ... It's such a loss.

"She was the kind of kid you wanted to do for," Roberta Wilhelm said.

Roberta's daughter, Tess Larson, met RoseAnn in grade school.  They clicked, and RoseAnn started hanging out at Tess' house.  She would spend weeks over there during the summer, and she went to theater camp with Tess every year.

"We didn't get tired of her," Roberta said.  You wouldn't.  RoseAnn was always in a good mood.  Always helpful and joking.  Even when you could tell things were rocky for her at home.

The Incontros didn't have much money. They moved around a lot.  Sometimes, when things got tough, RoseAnn and her four siblings stayed with other family members.

"As soon as I memorized her phone number," Tess said, "it would change."

Until they started at Central High in the fall, Tess and RoseAnn hadn't gone to the same school since fourth grade.

But RoseAnn, even as a child, clung to the good things in her life.  Her friends, her family.  She never let her friendship with Tess taper out.

During the summers, especially at camp, the girls would stay up late, talking about their lives and the future.

RoseAnn was upbeat, even about the most painful parts of her life.  "Everything was about how she was goint to fix things," Tess said.

"Even though her life was crazy and messed up, she could always find good in things."

And good things were finally finding RoseAnn.  Though her dad is in jail now, in the last few years life had started to fall into place for the Incontros.  "God has been good to us," said her mom, Ann Logan, who is remarried.

RoseAnn was focused on the future.  She talked about how she was going to have five kids someday.  She wanted to work with kids, too, as a counselor or a teacher or a nurse.

She was determined to go to college and knew she would have to work hard for scholarships.

Once, when she got a 4 in English, Roberta let her have it.  Later, Tess apologized, "Sorry my mom flipped out like that."

"No," RoseAnn replied, "That's OK.  Your mom's right."

Roberta would talk to RoseAnn about scholarships, telling her, "There are people who want to make sure kids like you get the break you deserve."

Last year, RoseAnn's aunt Diane Smolsky sat the girl down with the newspaper.  There were photos of kids who had won Peter Kiewit Foundation scholarships, full-tuition awards based on financial need and excellence.

"You have what it takes to have your picture right here," Diane told RoseAnn.  "You have what it takes ... There's nothing you can't do if you stay on the path you're on."

RoseAnn said she would.

"She would have moved mountains as an adult," Diane said.

Would have.