Vernon Leonard Gross

Vernon Leonard Gross, age 91, passed away peacefully at his daughter’s home in Loudon, Tennessee on Saturday February 10^th, 2024.  He battled cancer courageously for several years after his loving wife Joan passed away in 2017 and was under the embracing care of Covenant Hospice.  

He was born on 10/26/32 to parents Susie and Alvin Gross in Bloomville, Wisconsin. 

He was a proud US Veteran having served in the Navy from 1951 to 1955 and could usually be seen proudly wearing his Navy cap. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and was “Badger Proud.”  He furthered his degree at the University of Chicago obtaining his MBA.  He spent years working as an Engineer at Harnischfeger in Milwaukee and ended his career working for Sheboygan County in WI.  

He was known to be outside in the Wisconsin air sunup until sundown on his days off cherishing the views of the Fox River and enjoying his property. He loved all three of his dogs he named “Murphy” and later in life enjoyed watching the National Dog Shows hoping that the Gordon Setter would win.  During his last years, he became lovingly attached to his companion Mollie, a four-pound Yorkie who only had eyes for him.  

He and Joan travelled the world to support Special Olympics and he spent most falls and winters hunting deer or ducks with his friends.  He proudly obtained his pilot’s license and loved flying in his Cessna plane and relished that his son went into airline mechanics for his career.  Days before he passed away, he talked of wanting to fly again…

He was known as a brilliant thinker who excelled in Math and Science.  He couldn’t help but correct or do our homework as kids and would raise an eyebrow wondering why his daughter wasn’t a left brained thinker. As an avid ‘fixer’, he worked on cars, snowmobiles, tractors, and anything else that had an engine. He loved watching his son race motocross and go karts and would eagerly spend weekends at a dusty motocross track.  He loyally sat in the stands to cheer his daughter on playing soccer and tennis throughout high school and college and embraced her joy of Social Work.

He graciously attended almost every play and performance that his two grandsons performed in though that wasn’t his cup of tea.…He enjoyed cheering his two grandsons on in any sport that they played and spent years sitting on hard benches to see them play basketball.  He had an instant smile whenever they walked in and shared how proud he was of them and who they were becoming.

He is survived by his son Vernon “Kal” Gross and his wife Frankie, his daughter Mary Sue and Oscar, two grandsons Daniel and Noah and his dog Mollie who is 12.  He lost his wife Joan in 2017 while evacuating their home on Fort Myers Beach Florida, during Hurricane Irma.  Ironically, he lost his home to storm surge on Fort Myers Beach during Hurricane Ian and subsequently moved to Tennessee with his daughter. 

No service to follow.