Even well into his ninth decade, Ron Groves is still giving back to his community in a big way.
A Korea War veteran from 1951 to 1954, Groves’ early years saw him at the Children’s Home in Muncie, which now houses the Youth Opportunity Center. There for eight formative years, as the youngest of six brothers (two had died in infancy), Groves showed an early proclivity for art. One of the agency’s governesses took him under her wing and taught him how to paint.
“I promised her I would become an artist,” said Groves.
When he was finally placed in foster care with Gary and Lynn Garrett at age 13, the Garretts paid for a course in commercial art during Groves’ sophomore year. This started the wheels in motion for a career that would span 60-plus years in the art and advertising business. Serving for six decades as president and creative director of his business, he now focuses on marketing and consulting.
“My foster parents encouraged me every step of the way,” said Groves, who mowed lawns and worked on farms to help save for college. As art editor of the Yorktown High School yearbook in 1950, he was invited to work as an apprentice at Delaware Engraving to gain expertise in the field of commercial art.
A partial scholarship to Herron Art Institute upon high school graduation sealed the deal.
“I am who I am because of the patience and the tutoring of my foster parents,” said Groves, whose biological father left the family when Groves was an infant, and whose mother passed away when he was 5. Groves is the only sibling still living. “I’m eternally grateful the Garretts welcomed both my brother and me into their family unit.”
Groves also credits his overall life happiness and success to being saved at age 11, due to teachings from church services held at the Children’s Home by the McCullough Bible Class.
“I knew that God listened to my prayers,” he said. “That became my salvation.”
Due to the escalation of the Korean conflict, Groves opted out of Herron at the end of his first semester to join the Army. He took infantry training and Army administration school at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After graduating and being placed on orders to serve in the Far East Command in Korea, he found himself on a ship with 7,500 troops. To everyone’s surprise, the ship docked in Yokohama, Japan, with three people ordered off the ship and assigned to headquarters service command in Tokyo. Groves was one of the three, and was stationed there for the next two and a half years.
During his time in Tokyo, Groves continued to hone his artistic skills by painting portraits of wives, girlfriends and pets for the members of his company during his free time. Receiving his discharge papers in early December 1953, Groves boarded yet another slow boat. “I was placed in charge of an unfortunate group assigned to latrine duty,” he joked.
Delaware Engraving still had a spot for Groves when he returned from duty in February 1954. Groves joined the Applegate Advertising Agency, where he assumed the title of art director in 1958. Just two years later he opened his own graphics art studio, and hasn’t looked back since. His ads have graced countless newspapers, radio spots and animated TV commercials.
Returning to Muncie gave Groves the opportunity to look up former high school girlfriend Janice Burtner, who was attending IU. After a few months of dating, he and Janice married, and later welcomed two wonderful daughters, Laura and Marna, into their burgeoning family.
But those early days as a family were short lived. At just 35 years old, Janice passed away after a seven-year battle with cancer. Groves eventually married again, to Yorktown teacher Mary Woods – Marna’s sixth-grade teacher – and adopted Mary’s 9-year-old son, Jeff, in the process. The happy couple have been married for 54 years.
In the interim, Groves’ thriving business welcomed longstanding clients such as Delco Electronics, Ball Corporation, Marsh Supermarkets, Merchants Bank, Westinghouse, and Muncie Sanitary District, where Groves created the popular “Mr. Blue”. Memberships included Junto, American Legion, AMVETS, Indiana Federation of Advertising Agencies, and many more. Well-deserved accolades such as the Horatio Algier Award from the Boys & Girls Club, the Clean Sweep Award from Muncie-Delaware Clean and Beautiful, and the Key Man certificate from the Muncie Jaycees, still grace Groves’ office shelves.
In 2011 Groves stepped into the role of author, publishing the memoir “The Silver Dollar” which traces his life story. And what a life it’s been.
Working with veterans has been a true calling for Groves.
As a volunteer for the Delaware County Senior Center for six years and counting, he created posters and other materials promoting activities and events scheduled at the former Forest Park Elementary School.
In 2021 President of the Board Allen Johnstone approached Groves, inquiring about his ideas for a veterans suicide program at the center. From that, the Coffee Club was born, with Groves and Johnstone as co-founders.
“There is no other group closer than veterans,” said Groves, who started the group with just four members. A veterans’ wives support group also meets monthly.
“If you can encourage them to talk to each other, you can sense their issues,” he added. “And you just might make a newfound friend.”
The group meets on the first Saturday of the month and now has more than 260 veterans on its roster, averaging between 80 and 95 attendees at each gathering. In August breakfast was served to a record 106 veterans. Relying on sponsors that provide doughnuts and rolls along with biscuits and gravy, the center provides the veterans with three to four bags of take-home groceries from Second Harvest Food Bank. Coffee is graciously supplied by Black Rifle Coffee Company, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Owned by veterans, the business employs more 500 veterans in its ranks.
Having stepped down as director of the club in 2023, Groves now serves as a consultant, forwarding all of the organizational and promotional materials that have proven to be effective to other communities at no cost. Clubs now thrive in towns such as Anderson, New Castle, and Buckhead Ridge, Florida. Jay, Rush, and Howard counties have also expressed interest.
Like the Energizer Bunny, Groves just keeps going and going. His enthusiasm is contagious. “I’ve been blessed my whole life to be able to do what I love to do,” he said. “I often think of how I might have turned out if I had not been a resident at the Children’s Home, and had to try to survive as a street kid.”
Comments 1
What an amazing life. Thanks for a positive life well lived.