Ciceil
in words


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Nancy Cooper
President, Manhattan chapter, Indoor Gardening Society of America message to members.

It is with great sadness, shock and a profound sense of loss that I announce the death on August 25 of Ciceil Gross. Ciceil was a former president of the Indoor Garden Society, a program director, board member and trustee. She participated in all aspects of the society and her suggestions were always welcome and to the point. She helped plan, design, build and execute our society's booth at the New York Flower Show at the Coliseum in 1996. The theme that year was "Broadway in Bloom." Our display was beautiful and witty and caught everyone's eye.

Ciceil never did anything half-heartedly. Here's how I first got to know her: When she decided to grow plants indoors she created an entire plant room and environment in her home before knowing anything much about plants. Then she called the Horticultural Society for advice. Because I was president of Indoor at the time, they gave her my name and number. And so one night I got a phone call from this enthusiastic stranger who wanted to know everything about growing plants indoors under lights. We talked for a very long time and Ciceil decided to join the society. Soon she and her husband Murray became part of our lives -- volunteering at the sale table, making suggestions, taking photographs and serving on the board. She was very smart, efficient and a no-nonsense kind of person but not without a sense of humor. She was a fast learner. She brought a clear-headed point of view to our organization.

Ciceil lived a wonderful life. I once brought a young friend along when I went to visit her at her home on Spring Street -- a home that was filled with books, papers, computers and many other signs of a rich intellectual life. The plant room was overflowing with greenery (and some not so greenery) and there were cats. The furniture was comfortable and exotic. Classical music filled the air. As we were preparing to leave, my young friend told Ciceil, "This is my new goal in life. This is how I want to live -- surrounded by cats, books and plants."

An attorney who worked for the U.N. and traveled the world, Ciceil preferred to spend her retirement in New York City . But retirement is not the right word because she was incredibly busy. Growing plants was only a small part of her many and varied interests. She was an artist who, with Murray , created beautiful tiles for her home. She and Murray were avid members of the Finnegan's Wake Society and the Proust Society, enjoying the close textual study of these literary classics and making the inaccessible and difficult seem like fun. As part of her involvement with James Joyce, Ciceil and Murray created amazing, witty murals and paintings of Joyce and his characters. She wrote a play based on his characters and her artwork adorned the cover of the James Joyce Quarterly. In 2002 Murray and Ciceil were portrayed in a cartoon depicting a meeting of the Finnegan's Wake Society on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times.

It's painful to lose such an interesting, vibrant and generous person. We are all diminished by her passing and extend our sympathy to Murray .

Stephen Grillo
Wake group

Like everyone else, my memories of Ciceil will always be of a gracious, beautiful, intelligent, sophistcated women, but I'll also always remember she and Murray generosly taking my wife, Jean, and me into their place for a few days while we figured out what to do after 9/11( living only 6 blocks north of WTC), I'll also remember one morning about 7AM walking my daughter to a part-time job in SoHo and meeting up with the vibrant Ciceil I'll always remember--- she was out jogging.

Somehow those words, as heartfelt as they are, seem inadequate. Maybe that explains the "language" of the Wake. Some things are ineffable: beyond mere words.

I know you will find the courage to persevere. In the Wake, death and resurrection are intertwined. Of course it's easier to read that than to live it.