GROSS, Dick (Willy)

The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, Arizona Wednesday, November 20, 2013 Dick Gross, 84, of Wickenburg and formerly of Phoenix and Laveen, passed away Saturday, Nov. 9 after a long illness, with his family by his side. He was born Sept. 17, 1929 in Lone Rock, Iowa, the third of seven children born to Cephas and Hilda Gross. He is survived by his wife Kathryn “Willy” Gross, with whom he just celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary; his daughters Gloria (Chris) Norton of Laveen, Gail (John) Feeny of Mesa, Nancy (Bob Weber) Walker of Phoenix, Jeanette (Jack) White of Overgaard, Cindy (Bob Brown) Ballantyne of Phoenix, and Mary (Bob) Noble of Lutz, Fla., 12 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his brothers Dwight (Madonna) of Burt, Duane (Margaret) of Des Moines, Perry of Leland, sister Roseann (Jerry) of Milford, and sister-in-law Shirley Gross of Phoenix. He was predeceased by his parents; sister Doris “Bea” (Glenn) Crouse of Humboldt; brother Donald “Bud” of Phoenix, half sister Gwen (Sherwood) McDonald of Algona; half brothers Harold (Helen) of Lotts Creek and Russell of Burt; brother-in-law Billy Gifford; sister in-law Darlene Gross of Lelan; and his granddaughter Hillary Walker of Phoenix. Dick graduated from Lone Rock High School and promptly married Kathryn H. Willrett of Fenton on Oct. 12, 1949. After farming for many years, he took his young bride and their first five children to Phoenix in 1956, attended Arizona State University, and started working as a machinist at Garrett AiResearch (now Honeywell), where he was promoted several times and retired from the engineering group after close to 30 years at the age of 55. Dick stayed busy with his job, his six daughters (as he fondly referred to as his “six-pack”), and he enjoyed his hobbies that included camping, hunting, four-wheel off-road driving and fishing and later included flying again. They had a large circle of friends with whom he regularly camped and RV’d. Dick built three homes himself -- one in Phoenix, one in Laveen and later their retirement home in Wickenburg. Once Willy retired, they both set off touring North America with their RV. They have been to every state in the U.S. -- including Alaska and Hawaii. They have also been to every Canadian province, including Prince Edward Isle and parts of Mexico. He flew his planes to crop dust, scout for elk and to have breakfast in Sedona. He hunted for deer, elk, buffalo, bighorn sheep and javelina. He loved to fish Roosevelt Lake. He hiked the Grand Canyon at 60 years of age, took a train ride through the Yukon Territory, watched fireworks at midnight in Anchorage, salmon-fished the coast of Oregon, and explored several National Parks from Denali to Yosemite to Yellowstone to Mt. Rushmore and Acadia. He enjoyed sunrises and sunsets over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, Puget Sound, farms of Kossuth County, Iowa, and the Arizona desert. Dick was a hard-working, self-taught, honest and determined man who enjoyed working with his hands, the outdoors, his large extended family, and his farm roots. A graveside memorial was held at noon Saturday (Nov. 16) at Wickenburg Municipal Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a contribution to “Cops Who Care,” his favorite charity, which is a program to give underprivileged children in Wickenburg toys for Christmas. Donations can be sent to them at P.O. Box 20688, Wickenburg, AZ 85358 or http://www.copswhocare.org or to Hospice of the Valley, http://www.hov.org/donate.