Mose Gross

Mose Gross, known to friends and family as Mike, always said that his real life began on December 7, 1941. That day he was 21, assigned as the Assistant Navigation Officer on the USS Helena, a light cruiser, at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By 7 a.m., the Helena was under attack and Ensign Gross rushed to his battle station on the ship’s bridge (narrowly avoiding the fire ball from an exploding Japanese torpedo which had just struck the ship’s engine room) where he observed the entire attack unfold all around him. When he survived, he decided that day was his real birthday. So when he died on June 3, 2005, at age 84, he thought of himself as 63. He retired from the Naval Reserves as a Captain after nearly 40 years of active and reserve service (including active service in support of the Korean War.) Mose was born in 1920, in Vincennes, IN. He grew up in Petersburg, IN, one of four brothers and the son of a well known local businessman. He attended the University of Indiana for three years but left prior to graduation to join the Navy’s officer training program at Northwestern University, where he met his future wife, Eileen, and from where he received his Navy Commission in 1941. He and his wife of 62 years, Eileen, owned Davis Fabrics, a thirdgeneration business in Kansas City, until their retirement in 1981. Following retirement, he traveled the world, painted, took photographs and became an accomplished ceramicist. He attended UMKC and took many art and photography classes at the Johnson County Community College. Mose was active in a number of organizations. He served as the president of the Nelson-Atkins Print Society and the Naval Reserve Building Fund. He was on the Board of the Friends of Art. He was a member of the Lion’s Club, the Naval Reserve Association, the Navy League and the Pearl Harbor Survivor’s Association. He was president of the Landing Shopping Center Merchant’s Association. Survivors include his wife; son, Edmund Gross (Michiko) of Prairie Village; daughter, Lisa Kartus (Jesse) of Wheaton, IL; and one grandchild. Military Graveside services will be held 10 a.m. June 8, 2005, at Leavenworth National Cemetery, Leavenworth, KS. A gathering will follow 5-7 p.m. that evening at the home of Edmund Gross. Call Heartland for the address.