52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 13

 Week 13:

The theme for Week 13 is “Home Sweet Home.” What ancestor makes you think of home or when you picture them, you think of their home? Or maybe you had an ancestor who homesteaded? This is a good week to write about them.

This was a no brainer. 

What ancestor makes me think of home? My grandfather, Clair Edwin Gross.

I got fourteen years with him and it wasn't nearly long enough. I firmly believe that everyone has a soul mate, and that it doesn't have to be a romantic partner, because my grandpa was definitely my soul mate, my person. We were best friends and partners in crime. 

Clair Edwin Gross 

Born: 17 July 1929

Newberry, York, Pennsylvania, USA

Died: 21 March 2009

The Carolyn Croxton Slane Residence, Harrisburg, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, USA

When Clair Edwin Gross was born on July 17, 1929, in Newberry, his father, Walter, was 42 and his mother, Lillian, was 33. He had nine siblings. 

Pap was born, raised, and lived his entire life in Newberrytown proper. He attended the Roxbury one room schoolhouse and then went to high school in New Cumberland. 

Pap spent most of his youth playing baseball and he was damn good at it. He was being recruited by Major League Baseball when the army came calling. After the war he continued to play baseball, but blew out his knee, so any hopes of playing professionally were dashed. 

He deployed to Germany during the Korean War and spent his time training the infantry. He took a lot of pictures and thankfully he dated and labeled them all. I have a cuckoo clock that he sent home from his time in Germany. 

When he returned home he got a job with the Army Depot in New Cumberland and worked there until his retirement thirty five years later. 

He married Betty Arlene Erney (my grandma) in 1955. They had one child during their marriage (my mom). They divorced in 1962. He never remarried. 

Pap was short, but he was athletic. He was known around town for being a great bowler, ice skater and roller skater. He would load my mom and the neighborhood kids up in the car and take them all roller skating, where he'd show off his tricks (skating figure eithers and going under the limbo stick on one leg). 

He was an avid golfer and spent most weekends at Valley Green Golf Course. Like baseball, he excelled at golf. He taught my mom, brother, and I how to golf. He golfed almost right up until the end, even when he needed a colored gold ball because his eyesight was starting to fail. 

One of my favorite memories with him was my ninth birthday, when he took me to Valley Green to play the back nine. 

He spent most of his childhood and his entire adult life in the white house across from Newberry Elementary School. One of his favorite passtimes was sitting on the front porch swing and waving at cars and school busses passing by. Our family spent a lot of time on that front porch with him. We'd spend hours eating popsicles on the swing and enjoying the weather. 

Everyone that knew him loved him. I never knew him to be angry or say a cross word. He was always happy and ready to tell a joke. 

Clair Edwin Gross died on March 21, 2009, in hospice care at The Carolyn Croxton Slane Residence in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, when he was 79 years old. He had pancreatic cancer. One of our last conversations was him telling me that he wished he could get up out of bed and just run around the room. 

He's buried at Paddletown Cemetery and shares a plot with his sister, Panzi M. Gross.