Mary Lee (Lentz) Grose

Mary Lee Lentz Grose passed away at home surrounded by the love of her family on Monday, December 12, 2016. Mary Lee had been in declining health for several months. She was born in Statesville, N.C. on June 16, 1927 to Azor Sloan Lentz and Hattie Milholen Lentz. She attended Olin elementary school and graduated from Harmony High School as co-Valedictorian of her class in May of 1944. She immediately began work in bookkeeping in offices in Hickory during World War II, then later worked in Charlotte, then in Raleigh while her husband was in college. Mary Lee married the love of her life Beecher H. (Bill) Grose on December 18, 1948 while he was a student at North Carolina State University. After helping him complete college in 1950, they returned to his home farm in Harmony where they hoped to repay their families and community. Along with their sons, they built Ha-Ho Dairy Farm. Many young people in the Joyner community benefited from Mary Lee’s good meals, love, and intelligence. She served for many years as a Sunday School teacher and as director of the Women’s Missionary Union at Sandy Springs Baptist church. In the community, she led in the development of the Joyner 4-H club, the Home Demonstration Club and the community’s Rural Development Program. After spending long hours working with her husband on the farm, she spent many nights directing the Christmas pageant at the church, or helping young minds learn how to stand in front of a group to give a speech. Mary Lee was preceded in death by her parents, her beloved sister and brother, Lelia Frazer and Roy Lentz.   Left to cherish her memory are her husband, Beecher H. Grose Sr.; her children: Beecher H. (Billy) Grose, Jr., his wife JoAnn Rhodes Grose, and Roy Neal Grose and his wife Louise Dunlap Grose; and her deeply loved grandchildren David Neal Grose, Hannah Beecher Grose, John Joseph Grose, Joanna Rhetts Metzbower, and Alexandra Rhetts Kelly. Funeral services will be held 2:00 pm Saturday, December 17, 2016 at Sandy Springs Baptist Church, 2930 Sandy Springs Road, Harmony, NC.  Burial will follow in the church cemetery.  The family will visit with friends Friday evening from 6:00 until 8;00 pm at Nicholson Funeral Home and Saturday following the graveside service in the church fellowship hall. The family of Mary Lee Grose wishes to express our immense gratitude to caregivers Louise Grose, Katherine Whitaker and Beth Maul, as well as for the assistance of Eskar and Kathy Talley, Thomas and Betty Jo Stroud, JP and Carolyn Haynes, and Robert and Mary Kate Joyner. We are deeply indebted to the wonderful care of the Nurses, CNAs and staff of Hospice of Iredell County for making it possible to care for Mary Lee at home and in peace. We ask that memorials in Mary Lee Grose’s honor be given to Hospice of Iredell County and the Cemetery fund at Sandy Springs Baptist Church (c/o Charles Haynes, 1133 Old Place Dr., Harmony, NC, 28634). Online condolences may be made to the family at www.nicholsonfunerals.com and Nicholson Funeral Home is serving the family.