Misty Gross

On Thursday, April 29, 2026, the world lost one of its brightest lights and funniest people when my mother, Misty Dawn "Mickey" Gross, decided that she had had enough of all of us and departed this life for the next. Surrounded by more people who loved her than any sane person should, she passed peacefully after a long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis.

Born on March 31, 1964 at Middletown Hospital, Misty made her first attempt at being the star of the show by being born on her father's birthday. She was welcomed into this world by her loving and supportive parents, Lois and Lonnie Gross, as well as her older brothers, Kevin and Lonnie. There were early signs that my mother was going to be trouble, as she was up and running before her older brother, Kevin, and speaking endlessly in full sentences before the age of one, a habit she would not give up until the very last moment. Graduating from Valley View High School, she loved to play softball and drive her parents crazy. Her youth was spent building a personality that some have described as "quirky", "unique", or "big", but I just knew her as the most fun, caring, and fearless person I have ever met.

Mom went through her life being a stranger to no one, welcoming all, and making it her life's work to make people smile. In fact, it was such a big problem that finding a serious picture of Misty is a challenging task, as almost every one contains a silly face, a wacky smile, or just her generally being an absolutely hilarious person. She never passed up an opportunity to welcome someone else into the fold with a joke, talk to a neighbor (or random person at the store), or give someone a shoulder to cry on.

She was a big kid at heart up until her last day, and maybe that is why she was able to touch so many children in her life. I am not ashamed to admit it now, but when I was younger, I was sometimes jealous of the relationship my mother had with other people's kids, as were their own parents sometimes. I mean, after all, she was endlessly silly and fun, what kid doesn't adore that...and she adored them back. Now though, I see how much of a blessing that was, not only for her but to the kids in her life who could think of her as a second mom or a fun adoptive aunt.

I know this isn't the typical obituary, but there is a very good reason for that: my mother was NOT the typical person. We always like to think of ourselves as unique, special or different, but my mother not only talked the talk she walked the walk. She did not bow to convention; she did not give into the judgement of other (even if sometimes it did hurt her feeling). She was who she was going to be...loud, fun, and a little nuts, whether you approved or not. If that meant showing up to your grown son's work dressed as the Easter bunny in the middle of July to embarrass him, falling over and over into the ocean with her partner BJ while laughing and joking about feeling like a beached whale, or insisting we go out every time it snowed to do doughnuts in her little Plymouth Reliant, my mother brought the fun.

Those who knew her saw how much she loved life, and she knew a lot of people. Not everyone "got" my mom; some, I'm sure, talked bad about the lady in the grocery store who was asking me very loudly to stop "feeling up" the fruit as I loaded it into the cart, but many more quietly laughed as they overheard her embarrassing her twelve-year-old son in a very thick fake Kentucky accent. I wish she could embarrass me one more time, give a stranger one more laugh and enrich one more life, but deep down I know that she had a life well lived and in the end felt complete.

Now for the boilerplate....

Misty Dawn Gross is survived by her partner Brenda Foster, son Dustin Gross, grandson Emmett Fitzharris-Gross, parents Lonnie Gross and Lois Gross, brothers Kevin and Lonnie, extended family, and a countless list of friends.

A celebration of Misty's life will be held on May 16th at 11:00 am at the Anderson Funeral Home, 1357 E 2nd St., Franklin, OH 45005. The funeral services will be held following the viewing at 1:00 pm. Please come out and share stories of mom, rejoice in a life well lived, and help us carry on her spirit.