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Amy Michelle Hodge Gross
May 29, 1963 - March 31, 2020
Amy Gross obit pic
Our beloved Amy Michelle Hodge Gross ended her battle with cancer on Tuesday, March 31, 2020, but we are assured through faith that she is safely delivered into the loving arms of our Lord in Heaven.
   Born in Urbana, Illinois, to Margaret and Doug Hodge, Amy lived most of her early years in Modesto, California, attending Fremont Elementary and Roosevelt Junior High where, early in life, her teachers recognized and praised her empathy toward others. By the time she graduated from Grace M. Davis High with the extraordinary class of 1981, our gregarious Amy almost certainly knew most of the student body and all of the teachers and administrators. She participated in or led many student clubs, activities and sports and made a friend of everyone she met.
   Amy was also a college athlete (springboard diving) at Modesto Junior College until 1983, and an enthusiastic student at California State University, Chico where she earned her Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology in 1986, and more fortuitously, met the everlasting love of her life, husband Ron Gross. She was awarded a second Masters in Arts in Education from United States International University. Amy and Ron married in 2000 and have a daughter, Katelyn, and twin sons, Brock and Blake.
   All through school and her professional career as a teacher, coach, instructor, activities director, administrator, wife, mother and friend, Amy spent her boundless energy on the many people in her life. She befriended everyone she ever taught from her first job as a teacher and coach at East Union High School in 1988, to her last job as a Success 101 teacher at Manteca High (2014-2019). At Manteca, Amy fell in love with the students, faculty and especially the school spirit and academic atmosphere. She moved her family there so her three equally enthusiastic and active children could go to a school she had come to love.  
   In between, Amy made friends and touched countless hearts as a teacher, instructor or trainer at Ripon High School, Modesto City Schools, Concord Athletic Club, Diablo Valley College, Sierra High School, Edling Middle School in Colusa and Modesto Junior College. Her ability to bond with and positively influence her students from all walks of life was extraordinary.
One of Amy’s most cherished communities is Great Valley Academy where her children attended school for nine years and where she worked from 2013-2017. She loved everything about GVA and was so grateful for the warm and lasting relationships she and her family still have with GVA faculty and classmates.
   Amy embodied a love and zest for life, embracing new opportunities and challenges with equal enthusiasm, energy and grace.  She loved to travel and experience new countries, cities and adventures.  She also spent countless hours sitting in bleachers at a variety of athletic events cheering on her greatest source of pride, her precious family.  She supported their activities and encouraged them to explore new interests with the same passion and dedication she gave to everything in her life.  Her positivity and genuine love for her family, friends, students and colleagues leaves a legacy no one will ever forget.
   Amy is survived by her dear husband Ron Gross, daughter Katelyn, twin sons Brock and Blake, step-son Brett Gross (Kelsey), her parents Doug and Margaret Hodge and her brother Allan Hodge. It is a complete understatement to say that Amy will be missed by her family and friends. She loved too many too well for her loss to be anything but heartbreaking, and we cannot imagine a world without her.  But Amy believed in a redeeming savior and in a life eternal. So, we can say with hope that this is not the end, only a momentary parting.
   The family requests that in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Amy Gross Memorial Fund to Amy's Go Fund Me account or to 2168 Fountain Square Drive, Manteca.

Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin

Saturday, April 18, 2020