Francis F. Grose

PETERSBOROUGH, N.H. — Francis Farrington Grose, 85, formerly of Chesterville, died peacefully on Friday, Oct. 27, surrounded by loved ones at his home in Peterborough, N.H.

Mr. Grose was born on March 27, 1932, in Wilton, son of Erlon S. Grose and Erma G. (Farrington) Grose. He attended schools in Wilton and Haverhill, Mass., and graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1954 with a bachelor’s degree in education. He later earned a master’s degree in education from Salem State University.

On Aug. 22, 1953, he married Patricia Ann (Breed) Grose in Waterville. During their 53-year marriage, the Groses were devoted to each other and their family, as well as to the service of others throughout the world.

Mr. Grose served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and following his discharge in 1956, taught art in the Brookline, Mass., public schools. In 1957, he took the position of supervisor of art in Haverhill, Mass., public schools. In 1966, he and his wife, who was also an art educator, and their four children went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as lay missionaries to teach at the United Methodist teacher training college, high school and elementary school. After spending a year in language school to learn Portuguese, they remained in Rio for four more years.

In 1971, the family returned to Massachusetts, where Mr. Grose taught art and served as chairman of the humanities department in Billerica. In 1981, the Groses returned to the mission field, this time to Zimbabwe, where they taught art education at the Nyadiri Teachers’ College in Mutoko. After finishing a term of three years in Zimbabwe, they requested a transfer to be closer to their aging parents and relocated to San José, Costa Rica, in 1985. In San José, they worked at the Latin American Biblical Seminary for a five-year term, where Mr. Grose produced artwork for seminary publications used in distance education materials sent throughout Latin America.

After returning from mission service in 1990, the Groses first moved to a family ancestral home in Dryden, and later, in 2006, moved into a new home, designed by Mr. Grose himself, in Chesterville. Mr. Grose was extensively engaged in photography during the many years spent living and traveling in Latin America, Africa and Europe. His photographs frequently served as inspiration for one of his passions – painting. He worked in a variety of paint media, including watercolors, oils and acrylics, and his paintings spanned diverse styles from abstract, to impressionism, to realism.

Mr. Grose was a member of the Wilton United Methodist Church, the Massachusetts Retired Teachers’ Association, and was a past member of Wilton Historical Society. In 2012, he relocated to Summerhill Assisted Living Facility, in Peterborough, N.H., to be closer to his daughter, thereafter attending the Peterborough United Methodist Church.

He is survived and will be sadly missed by his son, Stephen F. Grose and his wife, Lynda Grose of Largo, Fla.; and his daughter, Pamela A. (Grose) Welty and her husband, Mark Welty of Ashby, Mass.; as well as by five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his wife, Patricia A. (Breed) Grose; a son, Brandon F. Grose; and a daughter, Virginia S. Grose Farrington.