Funeral Details

Sandra Wagner Gross, 88??

Beloved wife of Eston Gross of 68 years.?Loving mother of Jonathan (Elizabeth Lesnick) Gross and Philip (Megan) Gross.?Proud grandmother of Rebecca, Adeline, and Isla.?Dear sister of Phyllis (and the late Frank) Rosenfeld and Evelyn (David) Hall.

She will be sorely missed by many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Sandra (Sandy) Gross was born on January 12, 1938, as Sandra Lee Wagner, the middle daughter of the late Harry and the late Fay Wagner of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, living in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.? Her father drove a delivery truck, then ran a small business cleaning and installing commercial air filters.? She went to public schools in Squirrel Hill, including Taylor Allderdice High School. Sandy’s father was the president of a small nearby orthodox synagogue, where she and her two sisters received a modest Jewish education in their Sunday School, and she was active in BBG (B’nai Brith Girls).??

Sandy received a small college scholarship prize from the local Kiwanis chapter and was admitted to Pennsylvania College for Women (renamed to Chatham College in 1955), an all-girls liberal arts college in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh.? Sandy’s father drove Sandy and two friends to Chatham every day before going to work. She worked part-time in a neighborhood jewelry store (Binstocks) and as a counselor at the local Jewish community summer day camp. Later she was a salesclerk at Kaufman’s downtown department store, in the Tall Girls shop. She just met the threshold, with her five-foot six-inch height.

In 1956, she was introduced by her friend Lillian Kubrick to Eston Gross, who was a first-year student at Carnegie Tech Graduate School of Industrial Administration, and lived in an apartment not far from the Wagner home. Sandy and Eston hit it off and became engaged in 1957. They married in Pittsburgh in June 1958, starting a journey that would last 68 years. They had a honeymoon in New York City, before settling in Wilmington, Delaware, where Eston worked as a market analyst for Dupont. Sandy transferred to and graduated from the University of Delaware.?

Moving to Evanston in 1967, Sandy obtained her Masters in English from Northwestern, and began to form many lifelong friendships, including neighbors and people she met through her work with the League of Women Voters, where she edited an acclaimed edition of This is Evanston.? Sandy subsequently was appointed a member of the Evanston Planning Commission.? In 1977, she won a contested election for City Clerk, bringing some needed modernization to governance and the office.? She won a second term in 1981, unsurprisingly running unopposed.?

In 1986, Sandy joined Eston in moving to the small Arnhem suburb of Velp in the Netherlands, when he accepted a position at the Akzo global headquarters.? Sandy absorbed the Dutch language and managed the myriad cultural quirks, making Dutch friends as a teacher at the Lorentz School, where she taught English in the International Baccalaureate program.? She and Eston traveled widely in Europe during their tenure and hosted many, many family and friends who relished her hospitality.? A skilled baker, her Russian Rye bread, oatmeal raisin cookies, sour cream coffee cake and Schnecken were legendary among the family (and baking cognoscenti).? During her frequent trips to Amsterdam, Sandy developed a sophisticated walking tour of the Rijksmuseum’s 17th century Dutch masterpieces, which was thoroughly enjoyed by her guests.

Sandy did miss her dear Evanston friends (including a longstanding special group of four, with the five of them known together as the “Quint-essentials”) and sought to be closer to her own elderly mother. So, she moved back to Evanston a year in advance of Eston in 1996.? Back at home (having moved out the loyal house tenants of 11 years), Sandy enjoyed reconnecting with her friends, her multiple longstanding book clubs, and her work on the Northwestern alumni board, where she helped to program courses for appreciative alums.

She was, endearingly, a frank critic of culture, and unwilling to countenance popular whims.? Sondheim and Jane Austen passed her muster, but few others. Sandy was also an unforgiving editor and critic of her children’s essays—not unfairly so, they reluctantly admit. She had high expectations, after all – and a hearty and spicy sense of humor, the bawdier the better.

She is profoundly missed for her wit, laughter, keen intelligence, and love.

Service: Thursday,11:00 AM at Beth Emet The Free Synagogue, 1224 Dempster Street, Evanston. Interment: Memorial Park Cemetery 9900 Gross Point Road, Skokie.?In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the charity of your choice.?To attend the funeral livestream, please visit our website.?Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals - Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com