Obituary: Susan Huber Gross, 84, of West Hartford

From Taylor & Modeen Funeral Home

Susan Northrup Huber Gross, 84, of West Hartford, died peacefully at her home on April 27, 2018 surrounded by her loving family and four-legged family members. She is survived by her loving husband, Howard I. Gross of 51 years, her loving daughters, Mindy Ottmann of Farmington, Wendy Wassell and her spouse Mark Resnisky of Farmington, her loving granddaughter Jennifer Ottmann and her finance Tim Therian, Jr. of Windsor. Her stepdaughters Margaret Howard of Richmond, VT, Stephanie Gross of New York City, her step granddaughter April Howard, her step grandson Elias Howard, her step great grandchildren, Leon and Eulalie Summers.

Born August 20, 1933 in West Hartford, to Thomas and Eva Dorothy (Yost) Huber. She was a child piano prodigy blessed with absolute pitch. She performed in numerous recitals and with her favorite duo-pianist, Rial Ogden and with the Hartford Symphony. She attended the Fernwood School until she was old enough to be enrolled at Oxford School which she attended to the ninth grade when she left to benefit from the boarding school experience at Mary Burnham School in North Hampton, MA, where she blossomed. Her formal education ended at Bennett College from which she graduated in 1953. Her association with instructions of higher learning was extensive; as a guest of numerous beaus she visited almost every college in the eastern U.S., especially Princeton where her brother Charles F. Huber II was a student in the mold of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who could have taken celebratory instruction from the Huber family.

Susan was an avid fisherman, a love which she developed during the summers spent at her Grandfather’s Maine estate, Huber Camp, on Belgrade Lake with her parents and her beloved Uncle Paul Huber, a noted Broadway and radio actor. Her love of fishing was enhanced after her marriage to her husband, Howard, and the two of them spent many wonderful days on the waters at Belgrade and fishing the Niagara River, with Susan landing a 42 pound, all-time Huber champion salmon. A tennis player of note, she was coached by Eddie Reid at Hartford Golf Club from the time of her youth and played in many tournaments in the Northeast. She and Howard loved to travel Europe with crossings on the Queen Elizabeth and the Concorde. No shrinking violet she, her adventurousness is illustrated by her eighth day hot air ballooning journey through the Loire Valley in France with Howard.

Second to her family was her love of entertaining at her West Hartford home with elaborate and imaginative pool and dinner parties, enlivened by musicians from far and near including one memorable evening at which the noted recording artist Barry Harris and his quartet performed for her guests.

A lifelong member of the Hartford Golf Club, she was also a former member of the Country Club of Farmington, the Junior League (Chairman of the Clothes Horse committee), Town and Country Club, Society of Mayflower Descendants and Daughters of American Revolution.

Susan firmly believed that Heaven was where you were greeted by all the dogs you ever loved, and she would appreciate your contributions in her memory to an animal rescue organization of your choice.

Private Funeral arrangements are in care of Taylor and Modeen in West Hartford. A memorial service and reception will be held in the future.

For more information and to leave online condolences, visit Taylor & Modeen Funeral Home here.