On Friday, August 20, 2021, our beloved mother, Marian Jean Groff, went to be with Jesus. Anyone that knew our sweet mother, Marian, knew she spread her loving light and kindness to everyone around her with her gentle,smiling spirit. Marian was born in Clinton, Iowa on September 4, 1937, to Ruth and Merrill Lorenz. Her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1948. In January of 1951, the family moved to California and eventually Merrill became Director of Public Works for the county of Ventura. Marian’s favorite memory was seeing the beautiful, vast ocean for the first time in her life. She graduated from Ventura High School in June 1955. She attended Westmont College in Santa Barbara where she met her first husband, Hal Thompson. In 1959, Marian graduated from Westmont with a B.A. in Education. Hal and Marian were married on August 22, 1959, in Ventura, California and then moved to the Santa Barbara foothills where they bought a house and had two children, Mike and Cyndi. Marian taught at Cold Springs School in Montecito for many years and had a great enthusiasm for teaching and spoke fondly of her years instructing the children at Cold Springs.
After separating from Hal in 1979, she worked at Pemberton and Oakes in Santa Barbara. She met her soul mate, Dr. Gerald L. Groff, O.D., and the two were married on June 2, 1984. Jerry and Marian shared an amazing love for each other that spanned almost 36 years. They shared a tremendous passion for living life to the fullest and celebrated every day with their friends, family and especially each other. They were active members in Santa Barbara Community Church (formally Trinity Baptist Church) and Oaks Bible Church where they sang in the choir, performed in plays and musicals, led and attended Bible studies, and counseled engaged couples. Marian was an active leader in Royal Family Kids Camp where she shared the love of Jesus with disadvantaged children from the Santa Barbara community. Jerry and Marian enjoyed traveling with friends and family and visited many places including Israel, Greece, Italy, France, Fiji, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Hawaii. They especially enjoyed their yearly sojourn to Branson, Missouri with Marian’s sister, Margaret “Peggi” Nichols and her husband, Dan. They also participated in missionary trips to Mexico and sang for the Marines at Camp Pendleton every year with their church choir.
In March of 2020, Jerry went to be with Jesus. Marian yearned to be with him, and with her advanced dementia she never got over the loss of her beloved Jerry. Although we will miss her dearly, we know that she is in heaven with Jerry and Jesus, dancing, singing, and tending to her garden for eternity. She is survived by her sister, Margaret “Peggi” Nichols; her son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Caroline Thompson; her daughter and son-in-law, Cyndi and Tyler Richardson; her grandsons, Lane and Neal Thompson; and her step-grandchildren, Jake Richardson and Hannah Schoch.
A Celebration of Life for Marian and Jerry will be held at Grace Gathering in Santa Barbara on Friday, September 24th at 10:00 am. The address is 400 Puente Drive, Santa Barbara, CA. Please wear your favorite Hawaiian attire and bring photos to share with family and friends.
