By Austin Rust-
On Saturday, April 18, a prominent local businesswoman, Glenna Ruth Roush Grooms, passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease at Brookdale Crossing – Clare Bridge Memory Care in Groveport, Ohio, at the age of 79 years.
Glenna Ruth Roush Grooms, the oldest child of Ralph Irwin Roush and Hazel Mae Hafer, was born July 14, 1940 in West Union (Liberty Township), Ohio. She was a Class of 1958 graduate from West Union High School and the Miller-Draughton Business College in Cincinnati, Ohio. After college, she worked first as a bookkeeper at the W.A. Bratburd Furniture Company, then returned to Adams County, where she worked at Haas Lumber Company, Peebles High School, and finally, her father’s business: Roush Insurance Agency. After beginning work there in 1968, she became a partner in 1975, then purchased the business in 1980. She was the owner of Roush Insurance Agency for 36 years, and remained a licensed insurance agent for a total of 59 years.
“Her Adams County roots ran very deep,” explains Joy Grooms-Lazor, her daughter. “She only lived outside of Adams County for a year or year-and-a-half when she went to business college. She came back to Adams County, worked at a couple other places, then started working for my grandpa at Roush Insurance Agency, where she became a partner and bought the business.”
“Being a self-employed local person, she was always stressing to us that we needed to buy local and support our small-town businesses, because they are really what makes up your community.
She was a big supporter of all the local businesses, and always willing to help promote them.”
Mrs. Grooms-Lazor added that her mother had been involved in a junior achievement program at the local Adams County schools for several years, as well, where she mentored young girls in the fourth and fifth Grades, helping them to learn needed skills and develop plans for their future careers.
“In her time, a lot of women weren’t able to be their own bosses, or weren’t even in positions of leadership, so she strived to promote that – encouraging those young girls not to limit themselves, think bigger than just becoming a secretary… and own their own business, or lead a company.”
“She was always promoting things local – she was always promoting Adams County. She was just always willing to help others,” Mrs. Grooms-Lazor concluded, noting that her mother had been involved in many local family-oriented organizations, such as 4-H and Grange.
According to her obituary, Glenna Roush Grooms was involved in or was a member of Grange, the Lucky Arrow 4-H Club, band, and the West Union Methodist Church in her youth. After she married her husband, Dale, she became a member of the Peebles Church of Christ, where she did work as a Sunday School secretary for over 40 years. She continued to be involved in Grange for over 60 years, participating in degree work and drill teams, and was an advisor for the Town and Country 4-H Club for 28 years. She participated in the Ohio Valley Schools’ Junior Achievement Program mentoring young girls, and was also a member of the Adams County Historical Society, Adams County Democrat Club, and the Peebles Area Business Association.
Tammy Crothers, whom Glenna Roush Grooms referred to as an adopted daughter due to their closeness at work and in personal life, took up ownership of the Roush Insurance Agency when Glenna retired in 2014, having worked at the agency for nearly 30 years prior.
“I’ve known Glenna all my life,” said Crothers. “I’m not a Roush by blood, but I knew her daughter – her daughter was one of my best friends, we went to school together. Glenna was my 4-H advisor for many years, and then I worked here at the office. She was my boss and mentor for 25 years – I worked side-by-side with her for 7 ½ hours a day five days a week for 25 years.”
“Glenna was a very special person to me, and this is all very hard,” Mrs. Crothers concluded. “She was such a good person – she did things for people that she did not want to be recognized for. She was loved, and the day she was laid to rest – last Wednesday – the sun was shining as if she was looking down on us!”
In lieu of flowers, the family requested that memorial donations be made in Glenna’s name to the Adams County Historical Society.
Services were held at the Wallace-Thompson Funeral Home in Peebles, Ohio on April 22, 2020, and burial was in the Evergreen Cemetery, in Peebles, Ohio.
