Helen Horgan Ross, 94, passed away on March 27, 2020, at Tallgrass Creek Senior Living in Overland Park, Kan. Helen was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 25, 1925 to John L. Horgan and Isabel Kerber Horgan. Helen’s father was the general manager of large hotels in the Midwest and New York City, making Helen an early-day “Eloise,” hotel born and raised. Helen worked the front desk of the Lincoln Hotel in NYC throughout her college years at College of Mount Saint Vincent and The Katherine Gibbs School. After graduation, Helen worked at the Chris-Craft Motor Boat Company and the executive offices of Macy’s Department Store.
In 1945, Helen was introduced to her future husband, Clarence (C.V.) Ross by her brother John, who had befriended C.V. during their return stateside on the same ship after WWII. She and C.V. were amazed to learn they shared the same birthday, though 11 years apart. After a long-distance courtship, Helen and C.V. were married in NYC on December 28, 1946. They settled in Columbia, Mo. where C.V. completed the house he was building for Helen and then earned his Master’s Degree at the University of Missouri. After C.V. obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana, the couple moved to Chicago where C.V. worked for Swift & Company. They then returned to Columbia, where C.V. taught in MU’s College of Agriculture for 28 years.
Helen embraced life’s challenges and showed incredible determination, especially in moving from a city of 7 million to a town of 20,000. Having grown up in hotels with no kitchen experience, she attended cooking school in anticipation of her marriage. While she became an accomplished cook, baking was her true passion. As she was fond of reminding her children, “If you can read, you can cook!” Because she had never learned to drive, she took in typing work to pay for driving lessons at age 28. In 1967 when C.V. took the family to Bogotá, Colombia on a two-year USAID sabbatical, she studied Spanish at age 48, and when she returned to Missouri she finally learned how to swim. Helen also worked as an Avon representative for six years, turning many of her customers into close friends.
Helen’s love of reading made her a library regular and an avid fan of mysteries and cookbooks. She relaxed by playing the baby grand piano her mother had shipped to her from New York. She was an excellent gardener and found great pleasure tending to her 70 rose bushes and arranging fresh flowers throughout her house. She generously shared the blooms with family and friends and always brought roses to those she visited in the hospital. Helen was a charming hostess and her warm personality and quick sense of humor made all her guests feel welcome. Helen and C.V. enjoyed traveling and loved their cross-country road trips to visit their children. She was a long-time member of Sacred Heart Church in Columbia.
Helen was a loving wife and proud mother and will be dearly missed by her family and all who knew her.
She is survived by her daughter Laure Guyot (Dave) of Overland Park, Kan.; son Robert Ross (Chris) of San Diego, Calif.; daughter Elizabeth Ross of New York, N.Y.; her two granddaughters, Kelly Henderson (Will) of Prairie Village, Kan. and Erin Calloway (Michael) of Overland Park, and five great grandchildren, in addition to many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, C.V. Ross, her father and mother, her brother John Horgan, Jr. and sister Muriel Doyle.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a memorial service will be held at a later date. Interment will be in Columbia, Mo. Arrangements: McGilley State Line Chapel, 816-942-6180.
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