Bruce Franklin Groff

FORMER NAVAL OFFICER ENJOYED FINAL YEARS IN OC (Funeral To Take Place Thursday, June 30 at St. Josephs in Placentia) Former Naval Officer Bruce Groff, an Orange County resident for the past 40 years, succumbed on June 18 from complications brought on by a chronic lung disease he battled for years. The 83-year-old, who resided at the Brighton Gardens assisted living facility in Yorba Linda for the past four years, is survived by six children, 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His beloved wife of 55 years, Marie Fonda Groff, passed away in 2008. Groffs greatest accomplishment was not his service in the U.S. Navy, strong marriage, raising seven children or volunteerism. No, it was that he triumphed over tremendous adversity " challenges that met him almost from the moment of birth " to realize those achievements. Groff was born Bruce Franklin Seifert on March 3, 1928 in Ellis Hospital, Schenectady, NY to William Seifert, a department store window dresser, and Jessie Marcel Switzer. By the time Bruce was born, his father had abandoned his young wife and infant leaving them to live with her parents. The familys matriarch led them in a chaotic and peripatetic existence, uprooting them every couple of months and settling down in new surroundings. Despite the instability, the young boy managed to flourish both academically and socially. From his earliest days, he also worked hard to help support his family as they were among the victims of the Great Depression. His steady work ethic and devotion to family, qualities he maintained throughout his life, only intensified when his grandfather took his life, leaving young Bruce alone to care for his elderly grandmother and mother. His mother eventually remarried a fireman, Henry Groff, who later adopted him and gave him the Groff name. After high school, he was accepted into the New York State Maritime Academy at Fort Schuyler, graduated with a degree in Naval Architecture and commissioned as a naval officer in 1948. He was eyewitness to the horrors of war during tours of duty in the Korean and the Vietnam conflicts and awarded a Bronze Star for bravery during combat action. While stationed at the Special Weapons Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he met and later married the love of his life, Marie Fonda. A New Yorker herself, she was working at Kirkland Air Force Base under flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, during which time she earned the distinction for being the first female air traffic controller. They married in 1953 and later had seven children. Groff retired from the Navy in 1971, highly decorated as a Commanding Officer of the USS Catamount, moved his family to Orange County and served as an engineer for Hughes Aircraft in Fullerton. He retired in the early 80s and dedicated his later years to volunteering for various causes (Special Olympics and the Kathleen Faley Memorial Games were among his favorites), becoming more active in the church (he converted to Catholicism in his later years) and keeping up with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. While he was an avid reader (often reading a book a day), gardening enthusiast and socialite (he was especially proud of being elected president of Brighton Gardens residents association), Groff was most proud of his family. He leaves behind six children (his seventh and youngest, Christopher, was severely disabled and died 10 years ago). They include Susan, a neonatal intensive care nurse in Sacramento; Bruce, Jr., a recently retired sales rep from La Verne; Ann, a retired publicist residing in Mt. Hood, OR; Michael, a teacher at Kraemer Middle School in Placentia; Frank, owner of a public relations firm in Long Beach; and Matthew, a former Naval officer who currently serves as a sales engineer. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, June 30 at 10 a.m. at St. Josephs Catholic Church in Placentia (717 North Bradford Avenue).