Gwen Anne McGarvey Gross died at St. Alphonsus Hospital on Saturday, July 17 of complications stemming from leukemia after a 3-1/2 year battle. A Rosary/Vigil Service will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 at Holy Apostles Catholic Church (corner of Meridian Road and Chinden Blvd.). A Funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 22 at Holy Apostles Catholic Church. Reverend Timothy M. Ritchey and Reverend Brad Neely will officiate. Burial will follow at the Dominican Shrine of Bl. Margaret of Castello, Homedale, Idaho. Visitation will be held on Wednesday from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. at Accent Funeral Home, 1303 N. Main Street, Meridian and also at the Rosary/Vigil.

Gwen was born in Yuma, Ariz. on Feb. 5, 1951, the first of three children of Frank S. and Shirley W. McGarvey. As a child she lived throughout the western United States, primarily in California, before the family settled permanently in Boise in 1969. She attended Oregon State University, University of Idaho, and Boise State University, where she received a B.B.A. in management in 1980. In 1984 she married Mark Gross and together they raised two children, William, 17, and Emily, 15. Professionally she worked as a graphic designer for a number of years, then as a technical editor for state agencies and private companies in the civil engineering field. She was a member of Holy Apostles Catholic Church in Meridian, a life-professed lay member of the Order of Preachers (OP), otherwise known as the Dominicans, and a 21-year member of P.E.O., Chapter H.

She is survived by her father and stepmother Frank S. and Ruth McGarvey of Bend, Ore.; two brothers and their spouses, James H. and Diane McGarvey and William S. and Carol McGarvey, all of Boise; her husband Mark Gross and two children, William and Emily Gross of Boise; a stepdaughter and husband, Beth and Eric Droz; and a grandson, Kameron Droz of Boise; an aunt, Muriel Caldwell of Ontario, Ore.; and various nieces, nephews, and cousins. Memorials may be made to Holy Apostles Catholic Church, 6300 N. Meridian Rd., Meridian, Idaho 83642, or the Dominican Shrine of Bl. Margaret of Castello of Homedale, Idaho (Homedale Apostolate), 3846 Sumpter Drive, Boise, Idaho 83709.

The Shrine of Bl. Margaret of Castello has been a project which Gwen has helped guide since its inception over five years ago. Bl. Margaret is the patroness of Gwen's Dominican chapter, and the patroness of the unwanted. Gwen's love for all, especially those in difficult circumstances, led her to want to continue her love beyond her own time by providing a place where the people she loved could gather in prayer and await the resurrection together.

The family would gratefully like to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff of the St. Alphonsus Cancer Care Center and Two West, especially Drs. Carolyn Collins and Karl Shultheiss, for their devoted and valiant efforts to overcome a rare and aggressive leukemia. We also wish to thank the many priests of the Diocese of Boise, all of whom Gwen loved dearly and prayed for regularly, and also all the wonderful friends and family who supported Gwen and her family through her long illness. We came to love you all, for you were our family away from home for so long. May God bless you, now and ever and forever.

"Thanks Mom, you were our best friend."

"The least good of grace is superior to the natural good of the entire universe."--St. Thomas Aquinas