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Leadership in 1954–55

Gladys Hoagland Groves

1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 NCFR President Gladys H. Groves headed the Groves Conference following the death of her husband, Ernest R. Groves, was Editor of Marriage and Family Living. Later, she became a family life specialist with the Extension service in Maine. She was also a published book author.

2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Her Presidential Address included the following comments:

3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 Many specialists furnish information that is useful to the marriage educator and marriage counselor. Law, economics and biology suggest the breadth of background needed, but do not cover the field. Psychiatric insights are essential, anthropological orientation is an advantage, other approaches are desirable. Research in three directions is needed: (a) in subjects that can contribute tools of understanding; (b) in component parts of pre-marriage, marriage, and family life experience; and (c) in the methods and results of efforts in marriage education and counseling.

4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 Under her leadership, the Board of Directors voted to establish an NCFR newsletter. Judson T. Landis prepared the first three issues of Volume 1. David and Frances Treat furnished the labor and postage. The University of California paid for the next two issues. Several affiliated councils distributed the NCFR newsletter widely. The newsletter began to carry announcements of conferences and workshops. It was considered a communication link for members.

5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 What follows is a brief biography of Groves:

6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 Gladys Hoagland Groves, NCFR’s 12th President, was born April 3, 1894, in Boston, MA, to the Rev. Napoleon Stage and Julia Ann Comley Hoagland. She received a BA. from the University of New Hampshire in 1918. After graduation, she lived in Minneapolis, MN, where she began work on a master’s degree at the University of Minnesota. She did not complete that degree but instead moved back East, where she married Ernest Groves on February 25, 1919.

7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 Mrs. Groves was an instructor at several colleges and universities, including the University of North Carolina, North Carolina College for Negroes (later North Carolina College—Durham), the University of Connecticut, and North Dakota State University (1964–1967). However, she was better known as an author and lecturer. She presented many seminars and workshops nationally.

8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 She served as the Executive Director of the Marriage and Family Council, Inc., which was founded by her and Ernest Groves. The Marriage and Family Council, Inc., sponsored lectures, workshops, and offered counseling services. Its goal was to do charitable and educational work in the field of premarital and domestic problems.

9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 Mrs. Groves was an active member of many national and state organizations, including NCFR, of which she was an honorary life member. She coauthored more than 10 books and wrote the college textbook, Marriage and Family Life in 1942. She wrote many articles and was a columnist (with Ernest Groves) for, among others, Junior Home and Look magazine.

10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 When Ernest died in 1946, Gladys continued their work on her own, including with the Annual Conferences of Marriage and the Family. Although the amount of correspondence diminishes after Ernest’s death, that may be a sign that Gladys did not keep the same records that Ernest did, rather than that she necessarily slowed down in her work. There is little information past the 1940s, but what there is shows that Gladys remained active in professional organizations and in her teaching.

11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 Gladys and Ernest Groves had two daughters: Ruth Elva Groves Petrillo and Lois Mary Groves McGill. Gladys was also the stepmother of Catherine Groves Peele and Ernestine Groves O’Kane.

12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 0 Gladys retired to Virginia Beach, VA, where she died July 11, 1980, at the age of 86.

13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 0 During this year, one of NCFR’s founders, Rabbi Sidney E. Goldstein, died. He had also served as NCFR’s fifth President. Read Sidney Goldstein’s obituary from the New York Times.

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