Madison Courier
February 19, 2000Bernard A. Wolf, 96, of 950 Cross Avenue, died Friday, February 18, 2000, at King's Daughters' Hospital.
He was born November 25, 1903, on Pleasant Ridge, the son of Charles and Barbara Hummel Wolf. He was a farmer, a past county commissioner, a founder of Ryker's Ridge Volunteer Fire Department, a member of the Ryker's Ridge Water Company board, and was active in the Senior Citizens Center. He was a member of Pleasant Ridge Methodist Church.
He is survived by several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Pauline Wolf; one brother, Howard Wolf; and one sister, Phillapine Douglas.
The Indanapolis Star
September 20, 1971Finley, Ind. --- Services for Mrs. Jessie Sample, 77, Finley, will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Hendryx New Palestine Chapel with burial in Dupont (Ind.) Cemetery.
She died Saturday in her home. She was the widow of Julius Sample, who died in 1959.
Waycross Journal Herald (GA)
November 5, 2010Lois Hafford Groszmann was born in Waycross in 1917 in a big green house made of ancient pond cypress that was logged from the heart of the Okefenokee Swamp.
She lived in it the majority of her life and filled it with pictures and items from nature. The large garden where she spent many happy hours is brimming with prize-winning, "ole-timey" camellias and other plants from around the state.
Her father, W. C. Hafford, was a country doctor who treated the folks who lived in the backwoods, and she often went with him as child and young woman into the Okefenokee Swamp on trips to take care of the people who were living there. It was on such a trip that she recalled encountering the Ivory-billedWoodpecker and later met a researcher who was asking people about them. Her mother, Lois A. Hafford, was a talented nature artist who specialized in paintings of that very same swamp. It's no wonder that wetland held a special place in her heart.
"Our" Lois eventually became a science teacher, avid gardener and birder and conservationist. All of her life she worked for the preservation of Georgia's swamps, forests, barrier islands, mountains, native plants and birds, and so much more. She was one of the best role models anyone could have. The politicians and local leaders knew she would speak her mind when it came to protection of our natural resources. I think she might have come in at 5-feet tall, but she was a feisty, tough, little woman when it mattered! In the 1940's, her father was the force behind the development of the Okefenokee Swamp Park just outside Waycross and she helped them in many ways over the years as well. In her later days when she wasn't able to do much, she would ask to "just ride out there and see the swamp." She also willingly gave permission in recent years to the folks at LeConte-Woodmanston Plantation to come get clippings and other plants from her gardens in order to help them in their efforts to recreate the famous, old, botanical gardens of the LeConte family in Liberty County.
She never stopped trying to make a difference even if she couldn't do the work physically herself anymore.
In 1956 she and some other local nature-lovers came together to create the Okefenokee Bird Club, develop a South Georgia bird list and start the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Christmas Bird Counts which continue to this day. She would get out into the woods and waters with the best of them. As a prominent member and leader of our club, among other things she assisted the refuge with its nature festivals, conducted special bird surveys for them, and contacted the legislators on its behalf for decades.
Her beloved home was the site for many joyous Christmas parties by the Okefenokee Bird Club where she served her famous chicken pot pie. She was a cat-person too, and when we would sit and talk about birds and other things at her house, she was always petting her beloved kitties.
She and her mother lived there together and fed the birds religiously, two "little old ladies" just having fun with their feathered friends.
The house was near an old stream that led to the Satilla River, and especially in migration they would often have a wide variety of birds discovered around it that made it into the records during some of the first city bird counts, including a rare Bachman's Warbler that was identified on July 11, 1965.
Her family would travel around the United States each summer, and as an adult she continued that activity and became a world traveler.
At our bird club meetings she would show her slides and share with us her many adventures, especially those with birds, such as the famous finches of the Galapagos.
She was always ready to expose others to the wonders of this world and was a beloved teacher who former students still hugged. I first met her in school here in Waycross, and later, when I had joined the bird club as an adult, she would keep saying "call me Lois." But I still said "Mrs. Groszmann" out of habit and she always teased me about that. She never met a person she didn't like and want to make feel at home.
I could go on and on, and certainly include some special private memories, for she was a remarkable woman in so many ways. Her good deeds just never stopped.
She was a member of what some call the "Greatest Generation" and I can say it definitely fits for her.
Rest in peace, my friend. You made this world a better place, and whenever I spend time in The Swamp, I'll think of you.
Lois Groszmann passed away on Nov. 1.
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Find-a-GraveLois Elizabeth Groszmann
(January 13, 1917 - November 1, 2010)Mrs. Lois Elizabeth Hafford Groszmann, 93, of Waycross died late Monday evening at Satilla Care Center after an extended illness. She was born in Waycross to the late Dr. Wilbur Clair Hafford and Lois Alderman Hafford. She was a graduate of Valdosta State University, the University of Georgia, and pursued graduate studies at the University of Colorado and Georgia Southern University. Mrs. Groszmann was a teacher at Waycross High School where she taught Science for thirty five years. She began her teaching career at Waycross High School in 1949.
Lois was a member of the Garden Club of Georgia, the local Rose Garden Club, Retired Teacher's Association of Georgia, National Educational Association, Georgia Science Teacher's Association, National Science Teacher's Association and the Satilla Regional Medical Center Hospital Auxiliary. Mrs. Groszmann was a member of First United Methodist Church of Waycross. At the church she was a member of the Booth Sunday School Class, United Methodist Women, Administrative Board and the Council on Ministries. Along with her parents she was preceded in death by her husband, Richard Eugene Groszmann and a son, Richard Byron Groszmann.
Mrs. Groszmann is survived by two grandsons, Robert Byron Groszmann, Lawson Otto Groszmann, three great grandchildren, a grand daughter-in-law, Heather Groszmann, and numerous other relatives.