Clarence Henry Grothe

Clarence Henry Grothe suffered a heart attack and died in his home in Onamia, Minn. on Aug. 6, 2002, at the age of 85 years.
Funeral services were held 1 p.m. Saturday. Aug. 10, at the Swanson Funeral Chapel in Pine City with the Reverend Tom Mason officiating. Music was provided by Duane Arnold who accompanied violinists Elizabeth and Katherine Grothe; Clarencesí granddaughters. Casket bearers were the sons of Clarence with interment at Calvary Cemetery in Pine City. Arrangements by the Swanson Chapel Funeral & Cremation Service of Pine City.
Clarence Henry Grothe, the son of Henry and Mary (Konicek) Grothe, was born Oct. 4, 1916 in Pine Township, Pine County, Minn. He attended the rural elementary school district #1580, commonly known as Sauter School, and went on to attend Pine City High School.
He grew up on the farmland homesteaded by his grandfather, Lars Grothe, which was located seven miles east of Pine City. He continued to run the same dairy farm with his father. Later when his father purchased and moved to another farmstead nearby, he helped with running that one as well as taking over ownership of the original homestead. Clarence married Ellen Minkkinen and they had eleven children.
The original home on the property was a hand-hewn log structure, and when his growing family outgrew the log home in the early 1950ís, he built a modern home using sawed lumber from timber felled and cut from the woods on the property. In the 1940ís Clarence worked for a year as a delivery milkman in California.
In addition to farming in the 40ís and 50ís Clarence also worked as a telephone lineman. In the course of farming, Clarence tried his hand at several different cash crop ventures that were often unique for the area. Throughout his farming career Clarence often did custom farm and fieldwork for neighbors. He continued his custom farmwork in semi-retirement after selling off his dairy herd in the early 1970ís.
He sold the farm in the mid-1970ís and purchased rural property near Wahkon, Minn. near the shore of Mille Lacs Lake. He kept busy repairing outboard motors and miscellaneous other maintenance work at a local resort and in the lake area. In recent years he had purchased and lived in a home within the village of Onamia, Minn. Through the years Clarence always enjoyed fishing both winter and summer, and Mille Lacs Lake was one of his favorite places.
He is survived by wife Ellen Grothe; children John (Lynn) Grothe of Pembroke Pines, Fla., Brian (Tanya) Grothe of Ft. Pierce, Fla., Dean (Karen) Grothe of Columbia, MD, Kevin Grothe of River Falls, Wis., Craig (Joan) Grothe of Robbinsdale, Minn., Loren (Patricia) Grothe of Scandia, Minn., LuAnn (Paul) Kauffman of Portland, Ore., Leon (Janet) Grothe of Coon Rapids, Minn., Ava (Paul) Urbanski of
Minneapolis; sisters; Leona OíNeil of Saugus, Maine. and Mary Ellen Grothe of Cambridge, Minn.; 27 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; several neices, nephews, other relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, Henry and Mary Grothe, son Nathan, daughter Karen. brother Raymond, sister Ella.

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