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Gross, Dorothy Bercu, 1917-2015

 Person

Biography

Naomi Dorothea (Dorothy) Bercu was born June 14, 1917 in Douglas, Wyoming. Her father George Bercu owned the Chicago Hide, Fur and Wool Company in Douglas and in Denver. He married Olive Mistachkin and the couple became parents of Dorothy (1917-2015), Harryette (1918), Robert (1919), Bernard (1921), and Berverly (1935). From 1925-1928, Dorothy and Harryette danced on the Orpheum Vaudeville circuit around the west. They were later joined by Bob and Bernard and the whole troupe performed from New York City to Juarez, Mexico. The sisters also danced from 1936 to 1939. Dorothy attended the University of Utah in Ogden, Utah beginning in 1930 at the age of sixteen. She started a theatrical booking agency in Salt Lake City and taught dancing. Dorothy married Norman Gross in 1941 after he had signed up for her dance class. They raised three children, Valerie (Schreiber), Gary, and Dennis in Dallas, Texas. She also taught fitness classes. She died in Dallas in 2015.

Found in 14 Collections and/or Records:

Accrual: Bercu Gross Family Collection, B356

 Unprocessed Material
Identifier: 2024.015
Dates: 1942 - 2002

Bercu Gross Family Collection

 Collection
Identifier: B356
Abstract

The material in the collection includes items, photographs, and papers related to Dorothy Bercu Gross and her husband Norman Gross, her extended family, and her Vaudeville career in the 1920s and 1930s. Her father owned the Chicago Hide, Fur and Wool Company in Douglas, Wyoming and Denver, Colorado. The collection spans from the late 1800s to 2015 and illustrates an extended Jewish family and vaudeville performers.

Dates: 1904-2015

Box 24, 1940-1997

 File — Box B356.0024: Series B356.04 [Barcode: U186023251492]
Identifier: B356.04.0024
Abstract

The newspaper articles, photographs, objects and LP records illustrate the life of a Jewish family in the western United States. Some of the material is about Dorothy Bercu Gross who had been a Vaudville dancer and then was a fitness instructor. Her husband was a physician.

Dates: 1940-1997

Box 25, between 1960-2007

 File — Box B356.04.0025: Series B356.04; Series B356.05 [Barcode: U186023251662]
Identifier: B356.05.0025
Abstract

The six photograph album and article about Steve Bercu show images and information about multiple generations of a Jewish American family from the western United States. Includes a wedding album from the marriage of Valerie Gross and Julian V. Horwitz.

Dates: between 1960-2007

Box 25, between 1960-2007

 File — Box B356.04.0025: Series B356.04; Series B356.05 [Barcode: U186023251662]
Identifier: B356.04.0025
Abstract

The six photograph albums of the Gross family and an article about Steve Bercu show images and gives information about multiple generations of a Jewish American family from the western United States. Includes a wedding album from the marriage of Valerie Gross and Julian V. Horwitz and a 90th birthday album for Dorothy Bercu Gross.

Dates: between 1960-2007

Box 26, between 1950-2000

 File — Box B356.05.0026: Series B356.01; Series B356.03; Series B356.04; Series B356.05 [Barcode: U186023251670]
Identifier: B356.04.0026
Scope and Contents

Folder contains photographs of Valerie Gross Schreiber, Dennis Gross, and Gary Gross.

Dates: between 1950-2000

Box 27, between 1940-2010

 File — Box B356.0027: Series B356.05 [Barcode: U186023251688]
Identifier: B356.05.0027
Scope and Contents

Contains three scrapbooks with photographs and travel souvenirs of the Mistachkin, Bercu, Gross and Horwitz families.

Dates: between 1940-2010

Box 28, between 1940-2010

 File — Box B356.05.0028: Series B356.05 [Barcode: U186023251696]
Identifier: B356.05.0028
Scope and Contents

Contains five photograph albums and one photograph in silver frame.

Dates: between 1940-2010

Box 47, 1942 - 2002

 File — Box B356.05.0047: Series B356.05 [Barcode: U186023306603]
Identifier: B356.05.0047
Abstract

Box contains material relevant to Valerie Gross Horwitz such as news clippings, photos, letters, holiday cards, birthday cards, report cards, programs, awards, her baby scrapbook, her wedding scrapbook, ID cards, and her wedding invitation suspended in resin.

Dates: 1942 - 2002

Box 48, 1929-2002

 File — Box B356.02.0048: Series B356.02 [Barcode: U186023246560]
Identifier: B356.02.0048
Scope and Contents

Contains scrapbook (1930s and 1940s); Harold (Bob) Bercu photograph and correspondence (circa 1945); Norman Mistachkin (1935); George Bercu photograph (circa 1925); pencil drawing of Dorothy Bercu (2002) and George Bercu Masonic documents (1929).

Dates: 1929-2002