Rodger Groff

V. Rodger Groff, 86, of Greenville, S.C., went home to be with the Lord February 10, 2016. Born on July 4, 1929, in Baltimore, Md., Rodger spent his whole adult life in full-time Christian work. He was saved in his late teens following a serious motorcycle accident. The Lord used the testimony of the man in the hospital bed next to him to bring him to Christ. Rodger met “Brownie” (an affectionate name given her by friends in nurses’ training because her maiden name was Brown) when a friend took her to visit the church he attended. Rodger and Brownie married in 1951 and took as their life’s verses Romans 12:1–2. After Rodger graduated from Bob Jones University in 1954, the couple served the Lord on the staff of Bob Jones University. He worked at WMUU and Unusual Films and she was the head nurse at the campus hospital. They moved back to Maryland in 1956 and for twelve years were part of the Peter and John Radio Ministry, working at River Valley Ranch, a Christian camp in rural Maryland, and then at WRBS, the Ministry’s Christian radio station in Baltimore. From 1970 until his retirement in 1994, he worked with Trans World Radio, a global Christian broadcaster, in its home offices in Chatham, New Jersey, and then in Cary, North Carolina, when TWR moved south. When TWR built its high-power shortwave radio station in Guam in the 1970s, Rodger headed up that project. Even in retirement Rodger kept busy helping rescue missions in Durham, N.C., and Greenville, S.C., by refurbishing computers for sale in their thrift stores.

Rodger is survived by his wife of 64 years, Rose Marie “Brownie” Groff, his daughters, Judy Brown (Larry) and Susan Breisch (Jim); six grandchildren: Jessica Jackson (Jonathan), Michael Breisch (Chasity), John Breisch (Kellie), Jeff Breisch, Sam Brown (Sarah), and Heather Breisch; four great-grandchildren: Arilyn Lamb, Addison Breisch, Kenadee Breisch, and an expected baby Jackson; and a sister, Vilma Armandt. He was preceded in death by his parents, Vernon and Martha Groff, his brother, Lynford Groff, and a sister, Evelyn Boynton.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Trans World Radio, Cary, N.C., Friendship Baptist Church, Raleigh, N.C., or Morningside Baptist Church, Greenville, S.C.