Nancy Gross, 88, of Greenfield

Celebration of Life Services: Will be held on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. at the Greenfield United Methodist Church burial in the Greenfield Cemetery. Fellowship with the family will immediately follow the service at the church. Pastor Melinda Stonebraker will officiate the service. The Lamb Funeral Home in Greenfield is in charge of the professional arrangements. Online condolences may be left to the family at www.lambfuneralhomes.com. 

Memorials: To the Greenfield United Methodist Church or to the Greenfield Chamber Main Street/Flower Fund. 

Nancy M. Gross was born April 19,1936 in Greenfield, Iowa to Kenneth L. and Genevieve K. (Lambi) Newton. She attended country school before graduating from Greenfield High School with the class of 1954. Nancy passed away on February 16, 2025 at Adair County Memorial Hospital in Greenfield.

Following high school Nancy attended Iowa Teacher’s College in Cedar Falls with the goal of becoming a business teacher. She soon discovered that teaching was not her calling and pursued a job with Delta Airlines as a teletypist, training and working in Kansas City, Atlanta and Dallas. While in Dallas she reconnected with Richard A. “Dick” Gross. They had known each other socially at home in Iowa and began spending time together in Dallas. On June 23,1957 they were married at the Emmauel Lutheran Church in Fontanelle.

Nancy and Dick became parents to daughters Lynne and Sandra. They complemented each other and provided a fun and loving home for Lynne, Sandy, and their friends. Nancy was a good housekeeper; her Danish Grandma Eda declared that Nancy’s house always had “clean corners.” When sons-in-law David and Greg joined the family, she treated them as her own and often jokingly favored them over her daughters!

With Lynne and Sandy’s families living just across the street from their childhood home, daily visits were routine. Nancy excelled in her role as grandma with the arrival of Matthew, Marc and Michelle and later her great-grandchildren. She prepared Sunday dinners for her family for many years and treasured time spent at the local airport flying remote-controlled planes, fishing at the pond, gardening, picnicking, and celebrating birthdays and holidays together.

Nancy was an avid sports fan who never missed an opportunity to cheer on the Iowa Hawkeyes and Dallas Cowboys. At Christmas she gifted family and close friends Hawkeye bowl pins tagged “from Herky.” The kitchen television always had a sporting event on while she baked and cooked. She delighted many with her perfect cookies, bars and beloved cinnamon twist rolls.

She loved to vacation and many fun memories were made during trips to North Carolina, Texas and Lake of the Ozarks. Trips to Lake of the Ozarks were numerous and became a family tradition, always accompanied by lots of cookies and cinnamon rolls! She and Dick also loved to travel with dear friends Ray and Rae Leto, especially to the Lake, Las Vegas and Council Bluffs.

Nancy had a knack for putting together gorgeous annual flower arrangements that brightened her outdoor living spaces. She, Lynne and friend Jane enjoyed many excursions to buy just the right flower combinations. She and Dick enjoyed feeding and watching birds in the back yard, a ritual she continued after she moved to Homestead. She was protective of her feathered visitors and if she spotted a hawk she would charge out the back door banging pans to shoo it away.

And Nancy enjoyed her career as a legal secretary and abstracter. She developed close relationships with everyone she worked with and remained dedicated to her work until her sudden illness. Nancy was a member of Greenfield United Methodist Church and was always willing to prepare food, especially her peanut butter bars, for funeral luncheons.

She was a caring daughter, sister, wife, mom, grandma and friend. Her kindness and generosity continue through her organ and tissue donation. Nancy’s devotion to family and the kindness she shared with so many will be deeply missed. May her memory bring comfort to all who knew her.

Nancy was preceded in death by her husband, Dick; daughter, Sandra; parents; and brother, Gary Newton.

Nancy is survived by her daughter, Lynne Don Carlos and husband David; grandchildren Matthew Mitchell and partner Paloma Guerrero; Marc Don Carlos and wife Shelby; Michelle Diers and husband Nick; great-grandchildren Cameron and Olivia Don Carlos, Lawson, Weston and Ava Diers, and Stetson Mitchell; son-in-law Greg Mitchell; sister-in-law Kathy Gross, other relatives and many friends.

We extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to the staff at Adair County Memorial Hospital for making sure Nancy was comfortable and well cared for, and to all her many friends who visited and offered prayers.

All are welcome for a time of fellowship immediately following the service.