Cheryl Grosser

1944-2013

Cheryl Dawn Summers Grosser passed in her home on October 21, 2013. She was born on April 28th 1944, eldest daughter of Adren and Doris Summers, of Fort Wayne, Indiana. She contracted polio at the age of 6 and remained in a wheelchair all of her life. She spent much of her adolescent years rehabbing at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute in Georgia. After high school she attended University of Illinois, completing her BA and MA in English Literature and then marrying her college sweetheart Roger Grosser. They moved to Lawrence, Kansas, to continue education at KU and there she completed her MPhil. During this time she also began a family with the birth of her only child, a daughter, Dawn. She pursued her career in teaching first at Berry College and then Floyd Junior College in Rome, Georgia, for 5 years before moving to Kansas City, Missouri. Here she taught at Baker, William Jewel, and then Blue River Community College, where she retired at the age of 67.

She found great connection and support from her church families throughout her life including Trinity Lutheran in Fort Wayne, Blue Ridge Presbyterian, Second Presbyterian in Kansas City, and Parkway Presbyterian in Corpus Christi, TX.

She was an inspiration and mentor to countless students, a regular participant in a post-polio support groups and church book study groups, a consistent supporter of the arts, an ardent birder and nature’s loyal friend, a confidant to those who knew her, and a devoted, loving mother and grandmother.

She valued education, honest self reflection, her multitude of friends, her family, and her spiritual life.

She is survived by her sister, Candle Summers of Hawaii, daughter and son-in-law Dawn Grosser and Randall Lockridge of Corpus Christi, Texas, and grandchildren, Morgan Elizabeth Lockridge and Aaron Grey Lockridge. Her indomitable spirit, her unquenchable thirst for knowledge, not only of books but particularly people, and her unfailing empathy will always be admired and cherished.