WRGO Magazine 2016 Publications - Volume 3 May 2017 Volume 4 - Special Issue - Page 11

Dr. Rev. Catherine M. Gross – A Tribute
I wrote the following tribute to our dear Catherine last week in the hopes that I would be able to find someone to read it at her
services on May 15, 2017, however, I have been unable to do so. I am posting it here in her memory and honor, as my personal
tribute to a good friend and remarkable woman.
Well, I guess Catherine won’t have to emigrate to Canada (an
idea that she proposed in the last few months of her remarka-
ble life.) Instead, she has emigrated to a much higher plane.
Many of you present here today may think of Catherine as a
mother, a grandmother, an aunt, an educator, an administra-
tor, or a personal friend. However, it may surprise you to know
that she was thought of in much the same fashion by her
friends in the Michael Jackson Fan Community, which has
members in every country, on every continent on this planet. In
the Michael Jackson Fan Community, Dr. Reverend Catherine
M. Gross was a shining star. She was a teacher; she was a men-
tor; she was a minister; she was a friend; and she lead by exam-
ple. She was a tower of strength in times of struggle, a beacon
of LOVE and UNITY, and a bridge spanning the sometimes vast
distances between us.
Many of us got to know her through her on-line radio talk
show, A Place In Your Heart, which was broadcast internation-
ally. Personally, when she talked to me to ask if she could con-
duct an interview with me, I was dumbfounded. I had never
thought of myself as an interesting subject for an interview, but
she insisted that I had a lot to say and that she wanted to de-
vote an entire show to me and to my books. Catherine saw
potential in everyone she ever met or talked to, often long be-
fore he or she saw that potential themselves. She nurtured that
potential in every way she could. She encouraged, uplifted and
brought out the best in everyone. As a teacher, I imagine Cath-
erine’s students would tell much the same story.
Later, when I was determined to learn to draw, Catherine invit-
ed me to participate in an Art Exhibition. Once again, I was hes-
itant. (You would have thought I would have learned my lesson
by this time, but I am pretty stubborn.) My earliest drawings
were certainly nothing to exhibit. Nonetheless, she insisted.
Catherine was like Michael Jackson in many ways. One of those
ways was: If it was worth doing, to Catherine it was worth do-
ing BIG! If you’re going to make a splash, make it a BIG splash.
She was talking about makeup artists, getting our hair done,
and having television cameras on the scene. For a novice artist,
Catherine’s “can do,” “let’s go” attitude was frightening. I was
ready for baby steps; Catherine was setting up the marquee
with neon lights. God love her.
This dream kept Catherine strong during the almost year and a
half from May 2015 through August of the following year, when
her health took a turn for the worse. I talked with Catherine
every evening during her hospital and nursing home stays on
the pretext of reading to her from my vast library of inspira-
tional works by Kahlil Gibran, Gregg Braden, Rabindranath Ta-
gore, and my own humble publications. Every evening without
fail, regardless of how well she felt, she ended our conversation
with the thought that this Michael Jackson Art Exhibition was
going to happen. She was determined to make it a reality; and
she succeeded. I am so grateful that she lived to realize the
dream that she had held onto with such vigor and faith. Her
wonderful inaugural Michael Jackson Art Exhibition happened
in Gary, Indiana in August, 2016 and I did participate along with
artists from Hong Kong, Russia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Can-
ada, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.
Michael Jackson Inaugural Fan Art Display
Video by: Noble Love
My thanks to Noble Love for the wonderful video.
It was a remarkable achievement, the crowning glory for a
strong, determined, spiritual, faith-filled woman who has left
her mark on all of our hearts. Catherine was determined that
the Michael Jackson Art Exhibit would be an annual event to
bring the fan community together and she would have moved
heaven and earth to make that happen. At the time of her Con-
tinuation Day, she was in negotiations to find a permanent
home for the art she had collected and wanted to expand the
exhibit to include costumes, sculptures, and even performance
art.
Catherine, thank you for your faith in me … your faith in all of
us. I won’t say I will miss you, because, as Michael Jackson
sang, “You are always in my heart.”
~Jan Carlson~