Laura Willene Grove, 70, of Ontario, died Feb. 16, 2007, at Baker City.
Visitations will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at Lienkaemper Chapel, 78 N.W. First Ave., in Ontario. There will be a luncheon for friends and family afterward at the home of Kerri and Doug Deardorff, 310 N. Utah St., at Fruitland, Idaho. A private family memorial has been scheduled at Powers on Aug. 19.
Laura Willene Caver was born on April 18, 1936, at Greenville, Miss., to Willie and Bessie Caver. She was raised at Greenville until her family moved to Powers.
She married Thomas Mackey Grove in 1952 and completed high school at Powers. She moved to the Grove family dairy farm at Ontario with her husband and four children in 1958. She had three more children while living at Ontario.
Willene was a lifelong companion and support to her husband until his death on Jan. 24, 2007. Her passing so close to his death is a testimony of the great love they shared, family members said.
Willene supported her family with strength and honor inconsistent with her diminutive size and shy personality, they added. She was a fierce protector of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
She shared her husband’s enthusiasm for attending and supporting her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren’s sporting events and activities. Willene particularly enjoyed gardening and spent many hours creating intricate paths with attractive displays of soothing color from spring to late fall.
She delighted in creating framed arrangements of dried flowers from her gardens and feathers from her birds. She also provided arrangements of cut flowers and plants for the homes and gardens of others. Willene supported community charities and donated to the Arbor Day Foundation and Oregon Youth Ranch regularly.
“We will miss her,” her family said.
Survivors include four sons, Thomas Mackey Grove Jr., and his wife, Ranelle, of San Clemente, Calif., Phil Grove and his wife, Cindy, of Ontario, Jon Grove of Ontario and Sherman Grove and his wife, Dea, of Ontario; three daughters, Laurie Corless, and her husband, Eddie, of Fruitland, Kerri Deardorff and her husband, Doug, of Fruitland and Mary Grove of Baker City; 23 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Francis Cline, and her husband, Thomas Mackey Grove Sr.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, February 23, 2007
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor