Dale William Grovert was born on 7/27/1925 to a couple of German ancestry, William Grovert and Elfriede Werning in Newhall, Iowa, a small town in Central, Iowa, 20 miles West of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Dale had two older siblings, brother Don Grovert and sister Lola Krumm. Dale loved to play basketball, and as a senior in their local school which included high school, Dale had noticed freshman Dortha Ann Stuart, a starter on the girl's basketball team. The two became friends and started dating.
Newhall had a population of about 400 people then, with a school, grades 1 through 12. After graduating from high school in May, 1943, he realized that he would be drafted into the service soon after that. In June of 1943, Dale enlisted in what was then called the Army Air Force. Choosing to go into the cadets, the advantage was that you would come out as an officer, a Second Lieutenant. Also, the training in the cadets was several months where regular enlistment was only six weeks and then you were immediately sent overseas. Called up in January, 1944, Dale became a navigator on a B-17 bomber. Never making it overseas, Dale had just completed his training when the War in Europe ended and then the War in Japan. Discharged in 1946, Dale continued his education at a small college called Coe College, to get his Bachelors Degree in Accounting, and then in 1950, a Masters Degree from the University of Iowa. In the same year, Dale and Dortha, known as Dot, were married in June of 1950. Dale interviewed and was hired by Chevrolet, to work in the Finance Department at one of the assembly plants in Janesville, Wisconsin. In the mid-1950s, General Motors began installing the first IBM computers in their assembly plants. While still in Janesville, Wisconsin, Dale and Dot had one son in October, 1956 named Stuart Grovert. In 1960, Dale and Dot moved to the Detroit, Michigan area for Dale to work at the General Motors Headquarters.
Advancing up the company, Dale retired in 1985, and then started to work as an overseas missionary for the Lutheran Church that they attended. Between the years of 1987 and 1993, Dale and sometimes Dot took a small number of people from their church overseas. This was designed to train the local pastors who would then preach the Gospel to the people in their towns and villages. This included trips to Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, India and Brazil. In 1993, Dale and Dot moved to Winter Springs, Florida, a suburb North of Orlando, Florida. They attended a few different churches in the area, including Northland Church, and Dale worked with the Orange County Jail Ministry, preaching and teaching the Gospel to inmates at the Orange County Jail, in Orlando, Florida.
Memorial donations can be made to.
Northland Church
522 Dog Track Road
Longwood, FL 32750
(407) 949-4000
Orange County Jail Ministry
P.O. Box 568521
Orlando, FL 32856
(407) 836-3330
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