Roy Schallern Rood (1919-2011) was born in Rood, Florida, located just north of the Jupiter Farms community and named for his parents, Sophia Hetzel and Homer Harlow Rood. The Roods came from Wisconsin in 1914 to farm twenty acres they had purchased unseen. In 1919 the family moved to County Line Road. Homer Rood died in an accident five years later, leaving eleven children. The Roods were among the settlers in a non-denominational church group that started in 1910 and evolved into Grace Emmanuel Bible Church in 1985.
After graduating from Jupiter High School (in a 1928 building he was later active in trying to preserve), Rood took outdoor jobs until World War II, when he served in the Navy. Just weeks before he was to begin an engineering program at Purdue University, Rood decided instead to start a landscape business next to the Rood homestead.
In 1951 Rood met Patricia Murphy (1923-2009), a Louisiana teacher who was directing the nearby Girl Scout camp; they were married eight months later. Patricia started the area’s first Girl Scout troop and was instrumental in establishing the Palm Glades Council and Camp Welaka in Jupiter. Pat and Roy Rood received the Girl Scouts’ highest award, the “Thanks” Badge and worked with young people in many ways.
Rood Landscaping grew into a multi-million-dollar business. In 1990 First Lady Barbara Bush honored Rood in the White House Rose Garden for his work at The Gardens Mall. Rood sold his business in 2000 to his employees, and returned in 2007 as advisor.
As Rood watched Jupiter grow, he helped to bring in many organizations, such as Kiwanis and the American Legion. He was a co-founder of Jupiter’s Annual Pioneer Breakfast and Jupiter Christian School, and on the board of SchooLife, which encourages public school teachers. Rood protected Old Jupiter Cemetery by making it part of the larger Riverside Memorial Park, where a monument honors him in life. Among many other organizations who have given tributes to Rood is the Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association, who established the Roy S. Rood Award of Landscape Excellence in 1969.
Speaking of the Jupiter/Tequesta area, Rood said, “People came here, not looking to sit down and do nothing but to see how they could help. I still see this type of spirit today, and I hope we never lose that. ” He has also said that “it’s important to know that up until World War II, we had fun. Everyone was kind to each other, and that’s what I’d like to pass on. “