Groves, Esther Bohn (1925-2015)

Mennonite World Review obituary: 2015 Jun 22 p. 15

Birth date: 1925 Nov 27

Text of obituary:

Esther Bohn Groves

Esther Bohn Groves, 89, of North Newton, Kan., died June 3, 2015. She was born Nov. 27, 1925, to Ernest J. and Nora Lantz Bohn in Topeka, Ind.

She graduated from Bluffton (Ohio) College and met Carlyle Groves in Freeman, S. D., where she was teaching English and literature at Freeman Junior College. They were married in 1951 and spent an extended honeymoon in voluntary service through the Mennonite church.

They moved to Newton in 1957. They became members of Bethel College Mennonite Church. She wrote Sunday school curricula for the General Conference Mennonite Church and published a variety of freelance pieces in magazines.

When the family moved to Sierra Leone in 1972, she continued writing while homeschooling her two sons. Carlyle managed a literacy program and religious publishing house established by the Methodist church. They returned in 1975, settling outside Turpin, Okla.

For the next 16 years she worked as a staff writer and then area editor for the Southwest Daily Times in Liberal. She regularly played the organ at Turpin Mennonite Church and arranged instrumental and choral music for Sunday school students' performances in services.

After Carlyle's death in 1991, she taught English and remedial writing at Seward County Community College for three years. She moved back to Newton on her retirement in 1994 and regularly published concert and play reviews plus various short articles and essays in the Newton Kansan. She moved to Kidron Bethel Village in 2014.

Survivors include a daughter, Debra Groves Bollinger and her husband, Rob Bollinger, of Austin, Texas; a son, Nathan Carlyle Groves and his wife, Devasia McClain Groves, of Liberal; four siblins, Catherine Bohn Hartman, Stanley Bohn, John Bohn and Eleanor Bohn Unruh; three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Carlyle; a sister, Helen Bohn Klassen; younger son Quentin; and a brother, Alden Bohn.

A memorial service will be held June 29 at Bethel College Mennonite Church, North Newton.