Webmaster's Note: Millie Groo died at home on October 29th. She was 99 years old. A Memorial Service was held on November 1st and she was buried in Upstate New York. Rev. Jana Purkis-Brash officiated.
- Verna and Mildred (photo by Barbara F)
Ken and Mildred moved to Princeton when their first child was a baby. "You're new here and so am I," said Rev. Lynn Corson, the pastor who visited from Princeton United Methodist Church. PUMC has been a part of Mildred's life for 66 years. Though she doesn't get out to the services, she is an avid reader of church bulletins, Chimes, and newspaper articles. On September 21, Mildred celebrated her 99th birthday at her Princeton borough home where she lives with her daughter, Verna.
Mildred grew up in Highland Mills Methodist Church in New York, went to Sunday
School, sang in the choir, and after graduation from high school was an operator for the telephone company. She met Ken at a Grange dance. They had fun playing duets on the piano, and he performed in a small band during the four years that they were engaged. Married in 1934, they moved to Princeton for his job at AT&T in 1942.
Mildred served on the Altar Guild with Lillian Gregg and remembers going to
church socials. Though many church friends from the early years have passed
away or moved away – the Davises, the Keizers, the Simpsons, the Bensons, and the Hooks among them – the Groos also shared good times with current members. "They were good times and good affairs," she says. "We always got together and enjoyed one another."
The three children grew up at PUMC. Verna remembers going to Sunday School
classes in what is now the social hall, where Mrs. Leigh taught third grade. "When we were older, we met in the room at the bottom of the steps, and our teacher was John Johnson," Verna says. The family helped support the church: "When they put up the Education Building, we went all out that one year," says Mildred.
David and his wife live in Virginia, and their 2 daughters and 6 grandchildren also live there. Family pictures abound in Mildred's home, including a large close-up of a smiling four-month old, who succeeds in drawing the attention of anyone nearby. Robert, born in 1946, joined the Air Force, has a degree in design engineering from Trenton State, and lives in Texas. He is married and has a grown son. Verna, born two years later, was a French major at the University of Delaware. After a year abroad in Strasbourg and a teaching job, she worked for non-profit educational organizations, such as Presidential Classroom, in Virginia.
Verna returned to Princeton when her mother had a health problem. "I thought it would make more sense to come back," says Verna. "We had the chance to go on a lot of nice trips – to Myrtle Beach, Canada, and Highland Mills — and I could do the driving." Ken's health declined in 1991, and he passed away in 1994, but Mildred has kept in remarkably good health, despite recent challenges. "I've had a good life," says Mildred. "I've had a wonderful husband and a wonderful family. I've been very blessed."
