Charles "Charlie" Gross

Charles Gross was born Apr 2, 1947 in Dayton, Oh, attended Fairmont East High School graduating in 1965. He attended Bowling Green College for a short time but decided that wasn't for him. He went to work at Ohio Bell and transferred to Mountain Bell in 1972 in Greeley, CO because Colorado offered everything he enjoyed which was fishing and hunting. He retired with 37 years of service. Charlie lived a full life until the Lord swooped down and gathered him into his arms Oct 29, 2022. Charlie survived 4 strokes and became fully disabled but that didn't stop him from enjoying himself. With the help of Family, Friends, and organizations the last few years, Charlie continued to hunt, fish, vacation in Mexico, and attend Family Reunions.
From an early age, Charlie was interested in handguns. His Mom finally gave in and got him a membership at a shooting range in Dayton. Charlie missed his calling. He should have been a gunsmith. From taking apart his Father's handgun to teaching himself how to reload, Charlie equipped himself with all the tools and supplies and became proficient in reloading. Charlie took pride in his work and friends asked him to reload their brass.
But that wasn't hobby enough. He also learned to tie flies so that he could fly fish. He could also tie great knots and using a regular fishing pole he would cast from shore and later trolled with his own boat. Rarely did his line ever break because of a faulty knot. If he had lived closer to the ocean, I imagine he would have been hard to find most weekends. In addition, Charlie was a true Mountain Man. He joined a local Mountain Man club, learned to sew leather clothing, made his own muzzleloader, cast his own loads and went off hunting. He also had a bit part in the James Michener miniseries named Centennial which depicted rugged Mountain Men in the mid 1700's in Colorado.
Charlie's Sister, Sandy, shared a childhood memory. Charlie attended Chaminade Catholic school. His Mom worked during the day and Sandy attended Julienne Catholic school. Charlie's Dad had died from a heart attack as a result of the stress from WWII. Charlie was around 11 years old. One day the school called to check on Charlie and needed to send homework assignments. He had not been to school for several days. Charlie had been ditching school. Imagine the surprise on his Mother's face when she answered the phone call, and you can only imagine what he faced at school when the Nuns got ahold of him haha
Charlie was an even tempered man, not much triggered his temper unless he lost a great fish. One funny hunting story: we were scouting for an Elk with our friend, Scott (now deceased). We were glassing and saw movement in the tall grass. Of course we knew it wasn't an Elk but we couldn't make out what it was. We starred at it probably a good half hour. We decided it must be a bobcat or mountain lion and wanted to take a closer look when all of the sudden it flew right toward our faces and scared the crap out of us. We all had a huge laugh afterwards when we discovered it was a large Hawk feasting on a kill. With that, we went back to camp and popped a cold one!
Charlie married Linda Campbell in 1966. They had two children, Jennifer born in 1972 and Joe born in 1976. The marriage ended in divorce in 1980. Jennifer died in 1997. Charlie later married Patricia (Trish Gross) in 1982. They were married 40 years. Charlie and Trish met at work. He was an outside net tech in Fort Collins and she worked inside doing various jobs at the Engineering Building in Greeley. They never had children together but with the size of Trish's family, there was and still is plenty of children to share time with.
Charlie leaves a legacy of charity always helping others, dependable, a kind-hearted person, easy going, and eager to learn new things. Endurance is the primary word to describe him. Everyone here knows the long battle he endured and yet through all of his pain and suffering, he never showed bitterness. He will be missed by so many. Happy there was so much of him to share!
In lieu of flowers contributions can be made to:
Camp Bullwheel website campbullwheel.org, addr: 736 Varney Rd, Ennis, MT 59729
Or
Outdoor Buddies website outdoorbuddies.org addr: 555 Highlands Rd, Westcliffe, CO 81252
Live streaming will be available here the day of the service, please scroll down to see the livestreaming.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Charles "Charlie" Gross, please visit our floral store.