Pasco community leader Delores Groce dies

A pioneer in the Tri-City African-American community is being remembered.

Delores Groce, 85, died Saturday at her Pasco home. She was one of the city’s first Head Start teachers in 1965 and helped start the area’s Juneteenth celebrations.

“She was a great woman and she left a legacy for all the Tri-Cities to follow,” said Elouise Sparks, director of the Miss Juneteenth scholarship pageant.

Sparks, whose mother helped Groce start the Juneteenth events, also attended New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Pasco with her.

Groce started attending the church just four months after it formed in 1953, when services were held in members’ homes, according to Herald archives. She served on several boards with the church.

In 2005, Groce was given the Martin Luther King Spirit Award. She was recognized for her work with the NAACP, Salvation Army and Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation. She lost two of her seven children to the condition.

She also was chosen as grand marshal of Pasco’s Fourth of July parade in 1997 because of her community leadership.

Groce long worked with disadvantaged children and helped young people prepare for job interviews, Sparks said.

The Juneteenth celebration started decades ago with “Funday in the Park,” where kids could eat cotton candy and play baseball and basketball, Sparks said.

“She was definitely a pillar in the community as far as how active she was in just about everything going on,” Sparks said.

Groce moved on to the Kurtzman Park community center and Martin Luther King Center after leaving Head Start. She later took a job as a counselor with the Blue Mountain Action Council, helping young adults with learning disabilities find jobs. She retired in 1985, but later came out of retirement to help Columbia Industries write a grant and operate a job-training program.

She started taking on less-strenuous volunteer activities, like serving on the Pasco Parks board and Juneteenth council, after suffering two heart attacks.

For many years, Groce carried on a longstanding family tradition of making Thanksgiving dinner for 40 people. She would prepare three turkeys, nine pies and a German chocolate cake, according to Herald archives.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Dec. 7 at Faith Assembly church, 1800 N. Road 72 in Pasco.

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Pasco community leader Delores Groce dies."