Memorial services were held Tuesday, August 3, 2004, at the Rippey United Methodist Church for the Rev Dr. John Lawrence Groves, 87, of Bloomington, IL, a Rippey area native. Pastor David Swinton of First United Methodist Church in Perry officiated.
The body was cremated and interment was in Rippey Cemetery. Hastings Funeral Home in Perry was in charge of local arrangements.
Memorial services were also held Saturday, July 31, at Calvary United Methodist Church in Bloomington. Kibler-Smith memorial Home of Bloomington was in charge of those arrangements. Rev. Dr. Groves died July 27, 2004 in Bloomington.
Memorials are suggested to Calvary United Methodist Church, Global Missions of the United Methodist Church, or a charity of the donor’s choice.
Dr. Groves was born September 24, 1916 on a farm north of Rippey, the son of Robert Hiram and Elsie Olive (Grow) Groves. He married Virginia Reyes Aurrecoechea on June 18, 1945, in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. She died October 22, 2001 in Bloomington.
Dr. Groves earned his bachelor’s degree from DePauw University, Greencastle, IN, with the aid of a Rector Scholarship. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his bachelor of sacred theology (S.T.B.) degree from Boston University School of Theology and his Ph.D. Degree in philosophy from Boston University.
He and his wife were employed as missionaries by the Board Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church and taught 33 years at the Centro Evangelico Unido, a then-multidenominational seminary in Mexico City. He taught courses in philosophy of religion, Christian ethics, pastoral counseling, and logic for seminary students in Mexico.
He also served as field treasurer for the Board of Global Ministries in Mexico. Following his retirement from his work in Mexico, he and his wife served as missionaries in residence at the Board of Global Ministries headquarters in New York.
He then returned to Iowa, as a member of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, where he served three years as associate pastor at the Storm Lake United Methodist Church before retiring to Bloomington to be with his son John’s family.
In Bloomington Dr. Groves was a volunteer teacher with the STAR literacy program, sang with the Sound of Illinois Barbershop Chorus, assisted with the Walk to Emmaus Cursillo movement, participated actively in the local Kiwanis Club, and assisted with the care of his grand daughters, Anesia and Julia.
Survivors include on son, John R. Groves and his wife Mary of Normal, IL.; one daughter, Hannah Virginia Bermudez and her husband Antonio of Mexico City; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents; one son, Robert Hiram, his wife, one sister and two brothers.
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