Gene R. Groll, 1924-2010: Retired chief 1 of long line of firefighters

Gene R. Groll, a retired Oregon fire chief whose father was a charter member of what was then a township department, died Wednesday in his Oregon home of lung cancer. He was 86.

He was patriarch of his firefighting family. Sons Bob and Jeff retired from the department, grandsons Rob and Will are department members, and great-grandson Bo is a fire cadet at Clay High School.

"There's always been a Groll on the department," son Bob said. "He was very proud of it.

"I grew up down there as a kid. I couldn't wait to get on the fire department, seeing everything he was involved in and being there with the guys all the time."

Ed Ellis, the current chief, said: "He instilled some fine values in his sons, and that carried down to his grandsons."

Mr. Groll retired in 1986 after 39 years in the Oregon fire service. He became acting chief just days before the death in July, 1980, of Chief Ward Ensign. He became the permanent full-time chief in July, 1981.

Mr. Ensign was a part-time fire chief from 1954 until June, 1980, when he was named the city's first full-time chief in appreciation for his years of service.

Mr. Groll really helped mold the role of a full-time chief, daughter Deborah DePaolo said.

"He had to develop a budget. He had to figure out the trucks and what to buy. He really did well in that position and was well respected," she said.

Chief Ellis, a 41-year veteran of the department, said Mr. Groll expected the men to know their positions. "He was a leader," Chief Ellis, said. "You could communicate with him very easily. He would talk to the men and not [talk] down to them."

Mr. Groll's father, George, was among those who organized the part-time Oregon Township fire department in 1937. Mr. Groll joined the department in 1947 and rose through the ranks.

"He thought that was his calling in life, being a volunteer fireman and serving people," son Bob said.

He worked at what was then the Standard Oil refinery in Oregon for 36 years. He was an instrumentation supervisor when he retired so he could become full-time fire chief.

He grew up on Seaman Road, next to what is now the Oregon Municipal Complex. He helped his father in the family poultry business and was a 1942 graduate of Clay High School.

He was in the Army Air Corps and was a nose gunner aboard a B-24 Liberator on 32 combat missions over Europe in World War II. He attended Ohio State University.

In retirement, he and his wife, Elnore, took their motor home to Ruskin, Fla., for the winter. The couple traveled widely; he'd been in each of the lower 48 states. And they enjoyed playing Keno at casinos. The Hollywood Casino Tunica in Mississippi was his favorite.

Travel was long part of family life.

"We went on vacations every year, and that's the biggest thing he taught me - vacation with your family and enjoy them," son Bob said. "Don't wait until you're retired."

Surviving are his wife, Elnore, whom he married July 13, 1947, sons, Robert, Michael, and Jeff, daughters, Deborah DePaolo and Sue Seibert, sisters, Murel Kontak and Burel Chesher; 10 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 1 to 9 p.m. tomorrow in the Eggleston Meinert Pavley Funeral Home, Oregon. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the mortuary followed by fire department Last Alarm services.

The family suggests tributes to First St. John's Lutheran Church, Toledo, of which he was a member, or to Hospice of Northwest Ohio.

Contact Mark Zaborney at:

mzaborney@theblade.com

or 419-724-6182.