Lawrence Grupe

Lawrence Amos (L.A.) Grupe passed away Sunday, March 3, 2013 at Good Samaritan Nursing Home in Cole Camp. Lawrence was born the third child of George Grupe and Anna Sophia (Schroeder) Grupe at the family farm near Florence March 8, 1924. Along with his older brothers Arthur and Elroy and his younger sisters Eileen and Margaret, he was a child of the Depression. His experiences as a child shaped his work ethic and influenced his outlook on life.

Lawrence finished eighth grade and, along with his siblings, helped work the family farm. When his brothers went into service in World War II, he became his father’s “top hand”, and then boarded with a local family as a farm laborer. He apprenticed with a local carpenter, acquiring skills which he used when working on construction of over fifty houses and many remodeling projects.

Lawrence married Ruth Evelyn Green in August, 1949 and they partnered with Ruth Evelyn’s father, farming north of Smithton while Lawrence also worked as a carpenter. Following Ruth Evelyn’s death, Lawrence married Alice Hale in 1990 and they moved to Brooking Park after selling the family farm.

He loved the farm, hunting quail, crappie fishing, his dogs and he loved to work. He had a wicked sense of humor and shared many stories about his life with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The morning prior to his death, he told family members about the night he got home from a date, then went raccoon hunting and bagged two fat raccoons out of the same tree!

After loss of both legs to diabetes five years ago, he and Alice adapted and found a way to make life as normal as possible and he resided at home until this past January. As he often said, he married two wonderful women!

Lawrence was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife Ruth Evelyn (Green) Grupe, his brother Arthur and sister-in law Blanche (Stucker) Grupe and their daughter Joyce, his brother Elroy Grupe, his brother-in-law Orva Rasa, his sister Margaret (Grupe) Elhers, and numerous friends and neighbors. He is survived by his wife Alice of the home, his son Greg  and his wife Dixie of Columbia and Gordon  and his wife Sheryl of Sedalia; step son Randy Hale of Sedalia and step-daughter Rita Offield of Cole Camp; grandchildren Mary, Brian and wife Andrea, John, and Hannah Ruth and great-grand sons Austin and Justin, brother-in-law Melvin Ehlers, sister Eileen (Grupe) Rasa, and sister-in-law Dorothy (Meyer) Grupe, two step-grandsons and their wives and two step great grandsons and one step great granddaughter, twelve nieces and nephews and their families, and other relatives.

Pallbearers will be Ray Rasa, Roy Rasa, Donald Warnke, Jerry Hoehns and grandsons Brian and John Grupe.

Honorary pallbearers will be Tom Smith, John Wagenknecht, Lawrence Adams, Lenny Semkin, Melvin Ehlers, Larry Oehrke, and George “Dub” Griffin.

and his friends who gathered each morning at the East Hardees to drink coffee and solve the world’s problems.

Services are scheduled for March 5, 2013 at Heckart Funeral Home in Sedalia. Family will receive family and friends beginning at 1:00 pm prior to the service at 2 pm.

Interment will be at Smithton Cemetery following the service.

The family requests that any memorials be made to the Smithton Cemetery Fund care of Heckart Funeral Home, 903 South Ohio Ave Sedalia, MO 65301.