Antoinette Enos

Antoinette Gros Enos of Laguna Niguel, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and sister, passed away the evening of December 13th at the age of 78 in Rye Brook, NY.
Antoinette is survived by her son Frank, daughter-in-law Robin, her grandchildren Sean, Benjamin, and Madeleine, her brother Anthony J. Gros and sister-in-law Betty Gros, sister-in-law Geraldine Bowles, brother-in-law Louis R. Brandi, many nieces and nephews, and many good friends and neighbors of the Mariners Bluff neighborhood. She was the wife of the late Francis Lester “Frank” Enos and mother of the late Rachel Dietrich Kattner.
Antoinette was born in Claymont, Delaware on August 18, 1935 in the historic Darley House, former home of Felix Darley, who had been the illustrator for the works of Dickens, Irving, Poe, and many others. Antoinette’s parents Tony and Kay had purchased the house from Kay’s uncle for the price of one dollar during the depression, and lived there with their five children. In 1940, Tony, an ornamental iron worker, accepted a job at the navy shipyard in Long Beach, CA, and the family moved cross-country in a station wagon, arriving in Long Beach on Antoinette’s fifth birthday.
Antoinette was an accomplished singer. As a young adult in Long Beach, she was active in the Long Beach Civic Light Opera and in other musical productions, and appeared in at least one film; she was married for a time to Otto Dietrich. In 1965, she moved to San Diego, having remarried to Francis Lester Enos, who would be her husband for 47 years. In San Diego she was active in the PTA and in Navy wives’ groups. In 1976, her family moved to Brawley, CA, where she continued to pursue voice lessons, sang regularly as a soloist with the Sacred Heart Church choir, volunteered as a reading tutor and fundraiser for many school programs, and enjoyed hosting parties for friends and for her husband’s colleagues from business and the community. In 1988, she and Francis moved to Laguna Niguel, CA. In her later years, she enjoyed taking walks in the hills above her Mariner’s Bluff neighborhood, spending time with her grandson Sean in San Diego, attending neighborhood parties, and befriending animals in the neighborhood, both wild and domestic. For many years, she served as a lector and Eucharistic minister at Sacred Heart Church in Brawley and at Saint Timothy Catholic Church in Laguna Niguel.
Antoinette will be remembered for her generosity to family, friends, and charities; her openness to people of all backgrounds and beliefs; and for her love of birds, butterflies, and animals of all kinds.
A memorial service for Antoinette Gros Enos will be held on Saturday, February 22 at 1:00 p.m. at O'Connor Mortuary, located at 25301 Alicia Parkway, Laguna Hills, CA 92653.