Archive

Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source
WAVES veteran embodied 'forward-thinking' ideals | TribLIVE.com
Obituary Stories

WAVES veteran embodied 'forward-thinking' ideals

Renatta Signorini
Gtrross041815
Abby L. Ross

Abby L. Ross never wanted to hear that she couldn't do something.

When she was 20, Mrs. Ross's mother refused to let her join the military.

So she went to her father, said Mrs. Ross's daughter, Julia Day of Massachusetts.

Mrs. Ross eventually received a victory ribbon for her military service during World War II, which was just one example of how her determination led to many accomplishments during her life.

Abby Lippitt Ross of Ligonier died Tuesday, April 14, 2015 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease, her family said. She was 90.

Mrs. Ross left college to enlist in the Navy in May 1945 as part of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service program, commonly known as the WAVES. She went on to serve as a hospital apprentice first class at a Naval hospital in Norfolk, Va.

“There's a long history in her family of being in the military,” said daughter Mary Ross Cox of Greensburg.

Mrs. Ross came of age during a time of social change when women began entering the workforce in droves, said her son-in-law, Tom Day.

In 1947, she married the late Walter Ross III, whom she had known since childhood, and eventually settled in Ligonier, her family said.

There, Mrs. Ross continued pioneering and “forward-thinking” by opening a women's clothing store in the 1970s with three friends called The Clothes Patch, Ross Cox said.

“My mother was making trips to New York with her partners,” she said. “They were there to buy clothing and paying the bills and marketing what they had, and they did a really good job.”

Some of her 14 grandchildren helped out in the store during its 25 years in business, Tom Day said.

Mrs. Ross's time in Ligonier was marked by her participation in theater productions for many years with the Valley Players and Hollow Tree Players. Ross Cox recalled a role in the mid-2000s when her mother played the grandmother in “Little Red Riding Hood.”

Mrs. Ross was instrumental in establishing a children's theater group in Ligonier, her family said.

“She was very entertaining and engaging,” Julia Day said. “She was the life of the party.”

Mrs. Ross is survived by five children, Julia Day of Massachusetts, Mary Ross Cox of Greensburg, Walter Ross Jr. of Colorado, Andrew Ross of Colorado and Samuel Ross of Maryland; a brother and sister; 14 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Friends and family are invited to a funeral Mass Saturday at 10 a.m. at Holy Trinity Parish, 342 W. Main St., Ligonier. Interment will be at the Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, R.I., which is Mrs. Ross's birthplace.

Pantalone Funeral Home, Inc., Greensburg, is handling the arrangements.

Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the Alzheimer's Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, D.C., 20090 or at www.alz.org.

Renatta Signorini is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-837-5374 or rsignorini@tribweb.com.