| Honored by: | Gwen Howard |
| Brick location: | F:16 map |
Fern attended ISU during the depression, which was an honor in itself! She gave unselfishly to everyone she knew. She enjoyed history and people until her death. A nephew said "She was a lady 50 years ahead of her time." She was eager to learn new things, meet people and share her knowledge and talents, especially through her church work. "The saying is true -- the family is usually the last to know of all of the deeds gone unrewarded and acknowledged until one is gone."
Fern was born to L.M. "Mort" and Margaret "Maggie" Hensleigh on a farm near Blanchard, IA on May 31, 1908. After country school, "town" school, Clarinda Junior College and on to Iowa State, she taught home economics and then married Gerald Grove in 1930. She lived in Clarinda, IA from 1930 until 1994 in the same little house. The years '93 and '94 were spent mostly in the Johnson County, Kansas side of the metro area of Kansas City, MO with her daughter Gwen Howard and family. She had to sell her home in September of 1994. After complications from a fall on November 3, 1994 resulting in both of her legs being broken, she died at the Kansas University Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas on November 14, 1994.
12/21/94