Henry J. Young Award - Franklin R. Grove Jr, June2016
Franklin Ross Grove, Jr. was born Sunday, November 26, several decades ago, at York Hospital to Franklin Ross Grove and Fairie R. Miller Grove. He lived in Windsor Township in his early years, and moved to York Township in 1976, where he has resided ever since. He always lived about three miles from the square in Red Lion.
After high school, he began college, but changed direction to attend the York Hospital School of Nursing, from which he graduated in 1972. He worked at York Hospital for many years. In 1974, he received an associate degree from York College, and in 1982 a B.P.S. degree from Elizabethtown College. In the early 2000s, he also obtained a paralegal certificate from Penn State.
He has been involved in many professional and community organizations in addition to his genealogical interests. For many years, he was a member of the National League of Nursing, the American Nurses Association and the Pennsylvania Nurses Association. He worked at the York Fair first aid station for a number of years.
In the community, he has helped with 4H, and he was a volunteer with the York County parks in the 70s and 80s. For about 10 years, he volunteered with the Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps and the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement. He served as a Cub Scout and Weblos leader, a merit badge counselor, and a Scout committee member with the Boy Scouts of America from the late 1980s until 2013. He has been a church pianist for more than twenty years and an organist for ten, receiving the Flame & Cross Award from St. Paul’s Chapel Church.
Of course, we all know Frank for his involvement in lineage societies and in our genealogical society, and that is why we are honoring him today. He began to collect family information at age nine, and he has been active with many family reunions. One year, he attended twelve reunions in one summer!
He is a life member of the Lancaster Chapter of the Sons of the Revolution, and a life member of the Continental Congress Chapter, Pennsylvania Society, and National Society Sons of the American Revolution. He has held many offices with the SAR—sometimes two or three at the same time! For the past ten years, he has been the genealogist and registrar for the Continental Congress Chapter. Last year, he received the Distinguished Service Medal from the chapter for his involvement.
For the Children of the American Revolution, he served four years on the senior national board, and he is a past senior national vice president for the eastern region. He is an honorary Pennsylvania state president. For the Colonel Thomas Hartley Society of the C.A.R., he was a senior president and has been senior treasurer since 1998.
He also is a member of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, holding numerous offices there, including serving as commander for the past years. Like many of us, he is a member of various historical organizations, serving as vice president of the Red Lion Area Historical Society.
Frank has been a member of our own society since the late 1970s. He served as vice president from 2008-10 and president from 2010-12. He has been a director at large since 2012, and he has helped us with various events. He is in his 27th year as an SCPGS volunteer in the library of the York County Heritage Trust. I always appreciate his input into our board discussions, and he was the one who pushed us to get the nice display rack that we now have.
For his many years of service to our society, the York County Heritage Trust, and to the lineage organizations with which he has been involved, we bestow on him the Henry James Young Award.
And I should note that Frank and his wife are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary today! Congratulations!