Marie Fern Grover, 97, passed away on October 1, 2018 at Manor of the Plains, Dodge City, Kansas. She was born December 22, 1920 in rural Rooks County, the daughter of Earl R. and Alice (Hale) Bartholomew.

Marie attended the Mt. Lebanon one room school until the family moved to Stockton, Kansas, in 1931. She graduated from Stockton High School in 1938 and attended Fort Hays University, graduating in 1942 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Zoology. She married Loren Grover in 1942 in Stockton. He preceded her in death in 1950. During the years of their marriage, they moved around the country from base to base while he was in the Marine Corps. In 1950 Marie moved to Hays, Kansas, where she resided until 2016 when she moved to Dodge City.

She was active in the First United Methodist Church of Hays, being a charter member of the First United Methodist Women, Ruth Circle. She was also a charter member of the Hadley Hospital Auxiliary, active in Girl Scouts when her daughters were young, a member of P.E.O. Chapter EC, a member of Sorosis Club and vice president of the Fort Hays Alumni Society. Her lifelong hobby was the study and observation of birds of all kinds.

Marie was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Loren; a brother Robert E. Bartholomew in 1924; two sisters, Elizabeth Alice (Bartholomew) Walter in 2011 and Ethel Roberta (Bartholomew) Mock in 2017. She is survived by three daughters, Peggy Abbey and husband Thayne, Patricia Kolb and husband Dan, all of Dodge City, Kansas, and Barbara Bootman and husband Steve of McKinney, Texas; eight grandchildren; ten great grand-children; and many nieces and nephews.

There will be no visitation as cremation has taken place. Her ashes will be scattered at the Bow Creek Cemetery in Phillips County, Kansas, on October 6 at 11:00 AM. Memorials are suggested to the First United Methodist Church of Hays or the Elam Bartholomew Herbarium in care of the Sternberg Museum in Hays. Thoughts and memories may be shared in the online guest book at www.swaimfuneralhome.com.