Rose Palomares; Teacher, Member of Land Grant Family

Rose Palomares, 103, teacher and history-oriented member of a Spanish land grant family in the Pomona Valley. In 1837, her great-uncle, Ignacio Palomares, and his partner Ricardo Vejar were granted Rancho San Jose, which covered what is now La Verne, San Dimas, Chino and parts of Azusa and Glendora. Palomares, who graduated from what is now UC Santa Barbara, taught Spanish and art to junior high school pupils for 40 years. Inspired by her past, she worked to preserve the history of her family and the Pomona Valley. She was successful in designating Palomares Memorial Park, her family’s original burial area, as a pioneer cemetery. She was an officer in several organizations, including the Historical Society of Pomona Valley, the La Verne and San Dimas historical societies and the Rancho San Jose Parlor of the Native Daughters of the Golden West. Palomares died where she was born--in the home her father built in the 1880s. On Wednesday in La Verne.