Grover Mann

William Grover Mann, age 86, passed away on February 8, 2019 in Baker City, Oregon at home surrounded by his loving family. A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, February 23, 2019~2 p.m. at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Baker City. Friends are invited to join the family for a potluck reception following the service at the church.

Grover was born November 21, 1932 to Francis and Millie (Hall) Mann in Baker, Oregon.  He was raised in Baker and went to grade school at Churchill school then to junior high and onto Baker High School where he graduated in 1951.

Grover met his lifelong love, Mary Jean Carter in High School when he was 16 and she was 15. They connected completely and married June 29, 1952. Grover and Mary had three children, Dan, Dave and Sandy. Grover and his father, Francis, worked at their family’s business Mann Plumbing for ten years before Grover took over the business himself. Grover ran the business until 1981 when he became a plumbing inspector for the State of Oregon and handed the business to his son, Dan the third generation plumber in the family.

Grover and Mary left Baker to pursue the inspector job in Newport, Oregon. After three years there they moved to Corvallis, Oregon where they were the house parents at the Kappa Delta Sorority. Grover continued his inspection job and was the “house” maintenance man for seven years. Grover and Mary then retired to Lincoln City, Oregon where Grover worked two days a week for the county as a plumbing inspector until his 80th year.

Baker City was calling him to come home, so they packed up and came home! He loved going over to McDonalds every morning and enjoying a cup of coffee with his buddies until his health failed him and he could no longer go. He belonged to the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Grover loved hunting, fishing, and being in the mountains. He was inventive and constantly doing something. Family was everything to Grover.

Grover’s favorite catch phrases:  Sweets, for his Daughters, Granddaughters;  Honey, darling, sweetheart for his wife “Mare”;Kiddo- girls outside of the family;Bud- All boys; Many other “Groverisms” too many to list. For a full list see “Grover and Me” written by his granddaughter, Jennifer Battrell.

Memorable dates that Grover always remembered were the day of his marriage, birthdays of all of his loved ones and he always made Christmas very special. Grover leaves a legacy of love and kindness. Anyone who knew Grover had a lifelong friend.

Grover is survived by his wife Mary Jean Mann of 67 years; daughter Sandy Perkins, of Baker City; Sons, Dan and his wife Chris of Baker County; Dave and Pam of Cove, Oregon; a special nephew Don McDowell and his wife Nancy of Spokane WA; Sister Donna Lanyon, and husband Kenny of Yamhill, Oregon;brother in law Sunny Seibel of Hermiston Oregon;  Eleven grandkids, twenty-two great grandkids, two great-great granddaughters and many loved nieces and nephews. Grover also loved all of Mary’s brothers and sisters and counted them as his own.

He was proceeded in death by his parents, Francis and Millie Mann; two infant sisters; Sister Leatha Seibel; and two grandsons Joseph Mann and Danny Mann.

For those who would like to make a memorial donation in honor of Grover the family suggests either the Seventh Day Adventist Church or Heart n’ Home Hospice through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home and Cremation Services PO Box 543 Halfway, Oregon 97834. Online condolences can be shared at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com