For the love of the arts: Sally Gross donates funds for memorial garden at the Clayton Center for the Arts
July 15, 2025
Doug and Sally Gross never attended Maryville College, but when they moved to East Tennessee in 2003, the campus struck them as a mirror image of the place where their love story began.
Baldwin Wallace University — known in the 1960s, when the pair graduated, as Baldwin-Wallace College — is a small, private liberal arts institution established in the 19th century … active in NCAA Division III athletics … with historic ties to a Christian denomination (Methodists at Baldwin-Wallace, Presbyterians at MC).
It was, Sally Gross remembers, a wonderful reminder of the years they grew into critically thinking members of society with an affinity for the arts at the same time as they grew into a relationship that would last for more than 50 years.
“When we were thinking of early retirement, we were moving from the Dallas area, and we especially wanted a smaller town, preferably with a college,” she recalls. “We looked at several places in Ohio, where we both grew up, as well as in Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee. And we especially liked Maryville because of the College and the newly opened Blount County Public Library. We met at a small liberal arts college, and we were firm believers in a liberal arts education.”
It’s little wonder, then, that when the Grosses learned of the proposal to build a fine arts facility on the MC campus shortly after they moved here, they wanted to get involved. And it makes perfect sense that for that facility’s 15th anniversary, Sally would fund a garden that honors Doug, who died in 2022; lifts up the arts, which they so enjoyed as a couple; and adds beauty, tranquility and charm to the Clayton Center for the Arts, which celebrated the completion of the Doug and Sally Gross Memorial Garden at the facility’s anniversary celebration in late May.
“Celebrating 15 years of the Clayton Center is a dream come true for me, since at one point I was afraid it would never happen!” Sally says. “So many wonderful events and programs have provided me with so many memories. The anniversary was the perfect time to increase my contribution to the Center and to provide a strong visual interest to the outside of the building that can be enjoyed not only by attendees to programs at the center, but also as a visual marker for the campus to enjoy.”
A liberal arts love story
The liberal arts education the pair received at Baldwin-Wallace may not have included an admonition by the school’s founder to “do good on the largest possible scale” — as the Rev. Isaac Anderson once extolled the grads of Maryville College — but the sentiment was nevertheless understood. Doug went on to earn a master’s in international studies and attend law school at the University of Denver; Sally received her master’s in library science from Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve). From the arts to the outdoors, they developed an affinity for culture and beauty.
“We have had gardens ever since we bought our first house in 1973,” Sally says. “And they seemed to get bigger with each house! When we retired here in 2003, we bought a house with almost no landscaping and then proceeded to fill up the entire half-acre over time. Our personal style is more English garden-like rather than a formal style. Doug, especially, was always on the lookout for unusual plants.”
And the couple was on the lookout for a philanthropic project in retirement as well. Sally joined the citizens group that was established to support the Clayton Center for the Arts, as it was eventually named, and after the Blount County Commission declined to contribute seed money after the City of Maryville and the City of Alcoa agreed to partner on the project, the couple became determined to support it as much as they could, Sally says.
“We bought a brick and a chair, and I signed an I-beam in the building. We attended the opening gala 15 years ago. And we have been subscribers and contributors ever since,” she says.
Buying season tickets, she added, gave them the opportunity to attend any show they wanted, and taking a chance on shows they weren’t familiar with often led to unexpected delights.
“One of our favorite shows was (bluegrass duo) Dailey and Vincent,” she said. “We had never especially heard of them before they came here, but we really loved them — they are very reminiscent of the Statler Brothers — and have since followed their career and have seen them in other venues, including Dollywood. The last time we saw them together was at the Clayton Center for their Christmas show.”
That was in 2021. Just a month later, Doug passed away at Blount Memorial Hospital from multiple myeloma, and Sally’s world was forever changed.
A lasting legacy
Doug’s green thumb was legendary, so much so that his obituary mentioned how he would “share his produce with friends, neighbors and the Community Food Connection.” The obituary also directed that memorial donations be made to the Clayton Center, and more than three years later, Sally wanted to put together something lovely that paid homage to both the love of her life and the fine arts center they considered a second home.
“I wanted a low-maintenance garden,” she says. “We have all these plants in our garden at home. I love daffodils and daylilies, and we went with yellow/gold because those are my favorite colors in a garden. It is bright, shows up well at a distance and feels ‘cheery.’ I can never look at them and not smile.
“And hellebores were one of Doug’s favorites. They start blooming in early February and last through May. They are white and/or rosy and provide color early in the year. We went with Limelight hydrangeas because they bloom later than most hydrangeas and so provide blooms in July and later. Their lime-colored blooms gradually fade and still provide interest into the fall.”
She knew what she wanted to plant, and working with administrators at the Clayton Center, she determined the best location for it: parallel from the steps that begin off of Circle Drive and lead down to the Clayton Center Plaza, a gently sloping hillside that was transformed from a nondescript path of ground to a stunning, sweeping vista of those daffodils and daylilies, hellebores and hydrangeas, dwarf Burford hollies and plum yews.
“Sally and I have spent many hours sharing coffee at Vienna Coffee House, where I had the privilege of hearing her speak so warmly about her love for gardens, travel and the family and friends who mean so much to her,” said Christy McDonald Slavick, interim executive director of the Clayton Center, at the facility’s 15th anniversary celebration and garden party, held on May 29.
The event also featured remarks from an individual whose collaboration on the project made an incalculable difference, Sally adds: Francis Norris of F.R. Norris Co., a garden designer whose work has been admired throughout the country since 1987. In addition, the Clayton Center partnered with the Knoxville nonprofit Dogwood Arts organization’s Art in Public Places program to acquire a sculpture for the upper east corner of the garden to increase visual interest in it.
“The garden is designed around a musical notation, the treble clef, that symbolizes the movement and beauty of the East Tennessee hills and mountains,” Norris says.
A connection to the arts
And it will be one well-maintained for years to come: The grounds crews at MC, Sally says, do a wonderful job, but additional funds for the project have been earmarked for maintenance and will be used for additional care, such as pruning, fertilizing, planting annuals and maintaining the garden’s shape — because a facility as lovely as the Clayton Center, she says, requires a physical embellishment that’s as pleasing to passersby and event-goers as the programs taking place inside on its various stages.
“To me, the design is more about the Clayton Center and its programs,” Sally adds. “We interviewed three designers, and this one was the only one that made the connection between the arts and the Clayton Center. The other two could have been gardens anywhere.
“The sculpture we picked provides visual interest at the top of the garden, much like a tree would. We were very happy with the orange color, because it is one of the College’s colors; it goes well with the yellow colors that are prevalent in the garden; and it highlights the color of many of the annuals. I envision it as a sort of signpost calling attention to the garden.”
Today, it catches the eyes of visitors to the College who pull into the main entrance off of East Lamar Alexander Parkway. For Sally, it’s a lovely reminder of a place her husband loved so dearly, standing brightly amid the plants and flowers that brought him joy.
And now, it’s designed to do the same to all who take a few moments amid the garden’s tranquility.
“We wanted to give a visible gift that could be shared by everyone who comes to the center,” Sally says. “I hope visitors will feel a sense of joy, calmness, delight and peacefulness.”
And, she adds, she hopes they may be inspired by the garden’s musical flourishes and nods to beauty both floral and musical to support the Clayton Center for the Arts.
“Not only by attending programs, but by outright gifts no matter how small, so that the center can continue being an important part of the local community and the College,” she says.
To offer support to the Clayton Center or contribute to the Doug and Sally Gross Memorial Garden endowment, visit the facility’s donation page, or contact Lee Mayhall at 865-469-1108, or by email at lee.mayhall@maryvillecollege.edu.
