Gudrun 'Goodie' Gross, 87

PALMYRA, Pa. - Gudrun "Goodie" Gross, 87, died peacefully on April 17, 2009, at the Lebanon Valley Brethren Home, Palmyra. Born Jan. 27, 1922, in Berlin, Germany, the beloved daughter of the late Felix Weber and Martha Hänsler Weber, she worked as a secretary, survived the bombing of her home, became a refugee fleeing the Russians and finally was reunited with her family in Witten-Annen. After the war she worked there for a British company as a secretary, assisting with interpretation and foreign correspondence. She married her American pen pal, Richard Gross, in 1951, emigrated to Cherryville in 1952 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1955. She lived in Cambridge, Md., from 1953-59 where her husband was the minister for the United Church of Christ. She also lived in Keene, N.H., Asheville, N.C., Chapel Hill, N.C., and Elizabethtown. As a minister's wife, she designed and ran the Sunday childcare programs, organized countless church events, gave kind and loving support to many in need and cheerful friendship to all. She worked in public day care in Asheville, as a library assistant in the Acquisitions Dept. of Wilson Library at UNC-CH, and in accounts receivable at the Big M of Middletown. Besides her husband of 57 years, she is survived by her daughter, Monika Gross, and son-in-law, Tom Dessereau, of Manhattan; her son, Wolfgang Gross, of Melbourne, Fla.; three grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to Alzheimer's Disease Research (www.ahaf.org) or the Lebanon Valley Brethren Home, to which the family is grateful for her good care. (www.lvbh.org) A celebration of Gudrun's life and happy spirit will be held at the family home in Elizabethtown on June 20, 2009.