HAMPTON, Va. (Mennonite Mission Network) – Weyburn W. Groff, 93, died Oct. 2, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, a fitting time, as both lived and taught the way of peace. Groff died in Goshen, Ind., surrounded by family. His memorial service was Oct. 11 at College Mennonite Church in Goshen.
Groff was born Oct. 15, 1921, and raised in New Hamburg, Ontario, in Canada. He was highly respected as a mission worker, an academic, and a church leader. Groff and his wife, Thelma, served in India for more than 20 years through Mennonite Board of Missions, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network. Groff was one of the founders of Union Biblical Seminary in Yeotmal, Maharashtra, where he taught Christian education. He was pastor of Floradale Mennonite Church in his native Ontario. In 1965, he joined the faculty at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart and also served as registrar, retiring in 1986.
“When I came to AMBS as a member of the faculty in 1977, we became colleagues, including several years when he and I worked together as registrar and dean,” said Jacob W. Elias, professor emeritus of New Testament at AMBS and a former student of Groff’s from 1965 to 1968. “I always found Weyburn to be a gracious partner who was also sincerely interested in me as a person.”
In 1989, Weyburn and Thelma Groff became pastoral counselors for Mennonite Central Committee service workers throughout Southeast Asia.
Download full-resolution image.Phil Waite, Groff’s pastor at College Mennonite Church, said that he first met the Groffs in January 1988 when they were both in Akron, Pa., preparing for their assignments with MCC. Waite was new to the Mennonite Church and the Groffs made him feel at home, he said.
“As I learned to know Weyburn as pastor, and heard others share stories about him, I discovered this is who he was and why he was such an excellent missionary,” Waite said. “He knew how to relate with people who were not like him.”
Groff’s sincere love of people and respect for diversity were evident in his study of Gandhi, a Hindu leader of India’s independence from Great Britain, whose emphasis on nonviolence was, in part, inspired by Jesus Christ. Groff’s doctoral dissertation, “Satyagraha and Nonresistance: A Comparative Study of Gandhian and Mennonite Non-violence,” was published in 2009.
“It’s beautiful that it happened that way,” said Cheryl Groff of Kathmandu, Nepal, regarding her father’s passing on Gandhi’s birthday. “My father was very much a peacemaker, focused on injustice with a desire to help right wrongs. The bumper sticker on his car read, ‘War is not the Answer.’”
In his later years, while living at Waterford Crossing Retirement and Assisted Living facility in Goshen, Groff continued to nourish his thirst for knowledge. He began researching the indigenous people of the area.
“He was always interested in the next thing,” said Paul Conrad, a close friend who once lived with the family as a teen and who was like another son to Groff. “Just two years ago, when he was in between a walker and wheelchair, we went to the library to find out about the local native population. He wanted to go places and do things.”
That included wanting to attend his 70th college reunion on Oct. 4. Conrad said Groff was also a nature lover who painted and enjoyed gardening.
Groff was preceded in death by his wife, Thelma, and is survived by his daughters, Raechel White of Sarasota, Fla., Margaret Groff of Mussoorie, India, Cheryl Groff of Kathmandu, Nepal; son, Ed Groff, of Los Angeles; son-in-law Ron Hess of Kathmandu, Nepal (Cheryl’s husband); three grandsons, Alex Hess of Seattle, Conrad Hess of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Peter Reinhardt and his wife Erika of San Francisco; a sister, Dorothy Hallman of Kitchener, Ontario; a brother and sister-in-law, Merle and Dorreen Groff of Kitchener; and sister-in-law Betty Groff of Sauble Beach, Ontario.
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For immediate release
Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact news@mennonitemission.net.
