He was born to Estelle Crawford and Walter Alexander Groves in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on August 19, 1930. Bob moved to Teheran, Iran as an infant where his father was appointed president of the American University. The Groves family returned to the United States in 1940 when Bob’s father accepted an appointment as the President of Centre College of Kentucky in Danville, Kentucky. Bob graduated from Danville High School in 1948 and while there, met his future wife, Peggy Woford Groves, who passed away in 1999.
Bob then attended Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania where he was a valued member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Biology in 1952. He went on to complete his M.D. degree at the prestigious Yale School of Medicine in 1956 and served as a General Practice Resident at the University of Michigan Hospitals in Ann Arbor Michigan through 1957.
Bob then joined the United States Air Force. which led him and his new family to Albany, Georgia in 1958. He served as the Director of the USAF outpatient clinic and as Deputy Hospital Commander until his honorable discharge with the rank of Major in July of 1960. It was in Albany, Georgia that Bob decided to begin his civilian life, put down roots and raise a family.
Bob opened his general medical practice in Albany in 1960 and for the next 24 years practiced general medicine and touched the lives and hearts of many in the Albany community. Bob was always looking for the next challenge and in 1984, he retrained himself as an Emergency Department physician and continued to serve the Albany community in that capacity until shortly after his wife’s passing in 1999. By that time he had been a respected and loved member of the Albany medical community for nearly forty years.
Bob had many passions and hobbies and always looked for opportunities to serve. He was deeply involved in the Covenant Presbyterian Church youth program in the early years in Albany, often hosting events at his home. He taught Sunday school and frequently sponsored out of town trips for the Covenant youth. Bob also volunteered on several mission trips to India with his colleagues sponsored by the First United Methodist Church of Albany.
Bob, along with his wife Peggy, were avid tennis players and were involved in the leadership of local United States Lawn Tennis Association events for many years. His passions knew no bounds and he pursued them with the same zeal he put into his medical practice. He was an oil painting artist and loved scuba diving, photography, guitar and sailing. Most of all, Bob loved his hiking trips to the Grand Canyon of Arizona with his close Albany friends. He visited the Grand Canyon National Park seventeen times. He often reported that some of his fondest memories were of those times bonding with his friends in the inspirational beauty of the park.
Bob moved to Rochester Hills, Michigan in 2000 and practiced medicine there for a short time before retiring. He developed a broad network of friends both locally and over the internet and never failed to keep in touch with his closest friends in Albany. Never one to stay still, he traveled extensively and independently to visit family and friends in the last decade of his life and stayed engaged in his faith and his community by teaching Bible Study at the First Congregational Church in Rochester, Michigan.
Bob is survived by his children Amy Woford Villarreal of Lakemont, Georgia; Dr. Robert Hamilton Groves, Jr. of Scottsdale, Arizona and Sarah Groves Hobart of San Mateo, California. He leaves five grandchildren and two great grandchildren as well as his sister Virginia Coyne, his brother Warren O. Groves, and many close friends in Albany and in Rochester Hills, MI.
A memorial service will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, November 12 at the First Congregational Church in Rochester, Michigan. In lieu of flowers, Bob requested that donations be made to the Walter A. and Estelle C. Groves Scholarship Fund in care of William H Breeze, Special Assistant to the President for Endowment, Centre College of Kentucky, 600 W Walnut St, Danville, KY 40422.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.9.5