Rocky Mountain News (CO)
January 24, 2000CHARLES E. GROVER, 86, formerly of Denver, died Jan. 17. Mr. Grover was born in Aspen on Feb. 11, 1914. He was a photographer.
Survivors include his wife; two sons; three brothers; a sister.
The Daily Sentinel
January 29, 2009Kenneth A. Grover, Grand Junction, CO resident for 59 years, passed away January 25, 2009 at Larchwood Inns, he was 93. Kenneth was born on November 26, 1915 in Aspen, CO to Edward J. and Charlotte Feist Grover.
He graduated from Compton High School in Los Angeles, CA and later attended Western State College in Gunnison, CO where he obtained an Engineering Degree and later began a career as a Hydrologist for the Bureau of Reclamation.
On May 15, 1942 Kenneth married Lillian Coward in Las Vegas, NV. They would be married for 55 years until Lillian's death on April 27, 1998 in Grand Junction.
Kenneth was a member of the First Baptist Church in Grand Junction and was also a member of the NARFE and Good Sam's Club. He enjoyed cars, trailer camping, fishing, four-wheeling, music and bowling. Kenneth is well known for his ability to tell stories of the past while visiting with people, he was a "people person". When asked where and what he would like to eat, he would respond with a smile, quite simply "Food!" .
Survivors include a daughter; Sharon Brown of St. George, UT; two brothers, Gerry Grover of Grand Junction, CO and Donald Grover of California; a sister, Lois Herbst of Grand Junction, CO, and four grandchildren.
Kenneth was preceded in death by a daughter, Kristi Stice and a brother,
The Daily Sentinel
May 29, 2013Lois "Mommy, Ma, Gram Girl, Nana", Herbst, 93, of Clifton, CO passed away in her sleep on May 24, 2013 at Mantey Heights. Lois was born on January 28th, 1920, in Aspen, CO to Edward and Charlotte Grover.
She was raised in Aspen, CO with her four brothers, Charles, Kenneth, Donald, and Gerald Grover.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Paul Herbst.
She helped her parents in Grover's Grocery, in Clifton, CO.
She is survived by her brother, Gerald Grover; daughter, Pauline Myers; son David Herbst; eight grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; 16 great-great-grandchildren, and one great-great-great-grandchild.
She had a great love for children and taught Sunday school in various churches including Pear Park Baptist Church and Liberty Baptist Church. She provided "grandma" care for her grandchildren, Denise, Diane, Andrew and Julia and great-grandchildren, Josh and Beth, along with various children in the community. God's love was reflected in Lois to all who had the privilege of knowing her. We all love her very much and will miss her special "cheese and crackers".
Given Name: Willard E.
Surname: Grover
Rank: Private
Branch: Infantry
Place: Aspen
Roster of Men and Women Who Served in The World War From Colorado 1917-1918
Pitkin County
Given Name: Charles L.
Surname: Grover
Rank: Private 1st Cl.
Branch: M. G. Bn.
Place: Aspen
Roster of Men and Women Who Served in The World War From Colorado 1917-1918
Pitkin County
The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
January 23, 1997Retired Riverside Superior Court Judge George G. Grover was described as being such a friendly and helpful jurist that he often would take a confused person he encountered outside a courtroom into his chambers and help them fill out their legal paperwork.
Judge Grover, a longtime Corona resident who had been suffering from cancer, died Wednesday morning in Corona Regional Medical Center. He was 74.
News of his death spread quickly through Riverside's Hall of Justice where many Riverside judges and attorneys remembered him with fond stories of his calm demeanor and sincere concern for people trying to find answers in a complex legal system. "Judge Grover was the most decent, kindest human being I've ever had contact with," said U.S. District Court Judge Robert Timlim of Riverside, who knew and served with the judge for many years. "He was a brilliant person, an excellent bench officer and excellent lawyer," Timlin said.
Judge Grover, who retired from the bench in 1990 after serving 14 years, graduated with honors from the University of Southern California and its law school after serving as an Army officer during World War II.Born in Aspen, Colo., Judge Grover served as a clerk for California Supreme Court Justice Roger J. Traynor, and then served as a senior deputy attorney general before he entered private practice in Corona in 1967. He was appointed to the Riverside bench in 1976. While in private practice, Judge Grover became an expert on water issues.
Retired Riverside Superior Court Judge Elwood Rich, a close friend and colleague, described Judge Grover as a true champion for people representing themselves in court with little money or legal knowledge. "George would go out of his way to help people by filing papers. If there wasn't an available clerk, he'd take the guy into his chambers and sit down at the typewriter and type the papers himself. George knew shorthand, and somewhere he learned how to type really well," Rich said. "George was just a comfortable old shoe and a real down-to-earth type. He was so pleasant on the bench that if anybody disagreed with his rulings they could never get mad at him."
Judge Ronald Taylor, presiding judge of the county's consolidated court system, said a special memorial is being planned by the county's bench to remember Judge Grover. "He went out of his way to make the court accessible. He was a very, very compassionate man," Taylor said.
Judge Grover was known among lawyers for his three-page list of "lawyerisms" that he would pull out when some attorney used a confusing legal term that the judge would translate into common English, often creating gales of laughter from courtroom spectators and momentary embarrassment to the chastened attorney. "He always remained calm on the bench and good-natured through all his rulings," remembered Deputy District Attorney John Davis.
Survivors include his 101-year-old father, Charles of La Canada Flintridge; his wife, Leonie of Corona; a daughter, Adrienne Finch of Carmel, and a sister, Barbara Grover of La Canada Flintridge. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Los Angeles Times (CA)
October 24, 2001Melvin Bernard Grover, a blunt-spoken former Los Angeles Superior Court judge who was transferred from criminal to civil cases after a highly publicized squabble with the district attorney's office over evidence and courtroom conduct, has died. He was 80. Grover, who served on the court from 1983 to 1997, died Thursday in Los Angeles.
Among the civil cases he presided over in Pasadena Superior Court was the vitriolic 1993 trial of a suit by Lockheed workers over chemical injuries suffered in building the F-117A Stealth fighter jet. Jury deliberations lasted 12 weeks, only to end in a hung jury and mistrial. "I feel terrible," Grover told The Times that spring day eight years ago. "I spent 10 . . . months of my life on this thing."
Known for fairness and humor as well as his shoot-from-the-hip comments, Grover moved to the Pasadena court under duress in 1985 after nearly three years hearing criminal cases in Van Nuys Superior Court. There he ran into a buzz saw of opposition from deputy district attorneys who claimed he favored defendants, blocked key evidence and was rude, telling one deputy: "Don't weasel all the time. At least one time be a man."
The prosecutors began "papering" Grover with a stream of so-called affidavits of prejudice to prevent him from hearing their cases. In one often-mentioned case, they complained that he refused to allow a 3-year-old girl to testify that she saw her father shoot her mother, resulting in dismissal of the murder case. The judge said that the girl was too young and that her testimony would not be credible.
Most judges faced with such opposition from prosecutors simply accept reassignment to the often-preferred civil calendar. Grover, however, fought back, rejecting the affidavits and continuing to hold onto cases. Ironically, when he finally agreed to move to a Pasadena civil courtroom, it became known that he had quietly been trying to get a civil assignment since his appointment to the bench. "My friends joke that I had to do it the hard way," he told The Times shortly after the transfer. "I didn't want to be forced out of Van Nuys, but I wanted to be out of criminal. You can hear only so many rape cases, so many child molestation cases. . . . Civil law is definitely my strength."
But civil law was not where he began. After serving in the Army during World War II, he became a sergeant in the Santa Barbara Police Department and then joined the California Highway Patrol. As a CHP officer, he got a law degree from Southwestern Law School and began a 20-year civil law practice representing insurance companies. "I'm a Republican, a former police officer and a little bit right of Attila the Hun," Grover told The Times in 1985, laughing about prosecutors' assertion that he was a liberal prejudiced toward defendants. "I'm sure not a bleeding heart."
Perhaps indicative of his even-handedness in applying the law, Grover considered himself a conservative but was appointed to the bench by liberal Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and sworn in by Chief Justice of California Rose Elizabeth Bird. Older than many of his colleagues, Grover was newly retired from law practice and was in his 60s when he took the bench. He claimed the controversy with prosecutors was related. "In my day, everyone learned the hard way to respect the court, respect the judge," he said. "It's like the Army. You may not like your commanding officer, but you salute him just the same. I found that lacking in the prosecutors who came before me. . . . They tended to act like little prima donnas. "This whole thing was over who was going to control the courtroom: me or the district attorney," he said. "I'm from the old school, and I believe the judge is the one in control."
Born in Aspen, Colo., "Barney" Grover grew up in Van Nuys, and earlier this year celebrated his 80th birthday with classmates from his Van Nuys High School Class of 1938. He earned a bachelor's degree at UC Santa Barbara before going into the Army in 1942.
Widowed in 1994, Grover is survived by his son, Jim, and three grandsons, of Pasadena.