Dorothy Mae “Dottie” Groh, age 91 years, of Raritan Township, NJ, died peacefully at the Manor House at Independence Manor, Raritan Township, NJ, under the caring watch of Hunterdon Hospice and the devoted staff of IM.

Dorothy was born on June 9, 1929, to parents Joseph Zach, an Austrian immigrant who came to the United States in 1894 as a cabinet-maker’s apprentice, and Fanny Zach, nee Schmidt, a German immigrant.  She grew up in Ozone Park, Queens, New York, the youngest of four Zach daughters.  Her parents, her sisters Fran Distefano, Louise “Tootsie” Zach, and Joan Nichols, and brothers-in-law Sal Distefano and Fred Nichols, predeceased her.

A self-proclaimed tomboy who, as a child, relished playing stickball, building forts, and making death defying leaps from one Ozone Park house rooftop to the next, Dorothy attended Catholic School (where she taunted and defied the Franciscan nuns who taught her) and took tap dance lessons.  Her sister Tootsie, a seamstress and caregiver to their parents, was like a second mother to Dorothy, and lovingly sewed her school and other outfits (a fact that undoubtedly laid the groundwork for Dorothy’s later love of fashion).  Together with her partner-in-crime and closest sister, Joan – the principal instigator of all tomfoolery in the Zach household – Dorothy was a practical-joker at heart, often to the chagrin of her old-world parents.  Of the many stories she later told of her childhood as she was raising her own children, Dorothy was most fond of this one:  During World War II, Joan would lean perilously out an upstairs window at night and perform an uncannily accurate imitation of an air raid siren, while Dorothy and Tootsie laughed until their sides ached as one house after another along their street turned the lights out.  Oblivious to their daughters’ antics, Joseph and Fanny would continue playing Pinochle at the kitchen table, by candlelight.

Born in the city, Dorothy was a country girl at heart.  She spent many summers as a youth at McKetta’s Farm, not far from Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, where her parents would later retire.  There she learned to ride horses, tended to the farmhouse cats, and began what would later become a lifelong love of all creatures great and small.  In the mid-1940s, she left high school to work as a switchboard operator for the Long Lines Department of AT&T on William Street in New York City.  Always ready and willing to help those in need, she volunteered in July 1951, at age 22, to perform emergency work in Kansas City in the wake of the Missouri Valley flood.  Although the perilous flight to Kansas City through a harrowing storm triggered a life-long fear of flying, Dorothy’s volunteer work earned her a commendation from top brass at AT&T.

In 1949, Dorothy met Edward John Groh (“Ed Sr.”), son of Edward Julius Groh, and Victoria Groh, nee Stedman, an Irish immigrant, of Richmond Hill, Queens.  Ed Sr. was a veteran of the Army and student of Columbia University where he studied Civil Engineering, was a Brother of Delta Phi Fraternity, and was Lead Stroke for Columbia’s Crew team.  Dorothy often proudly told the story of how her beau “took the shirt off Jack Kelly’s back” after Columbia beat University of Pennsylvania at a race, and the Olympian (and brother of Grace Kelly) was obliged to surrender his shirt to Ed Sr.  After working hard summers as a bridge painter in New York City and graduating from Columbia, Ed Sr. landed a job in Network Engineering at AT&T.  He and Dorothy married on October 27, 1951, and moved to Massapequa Park, Long Island.

Between 1956 and 1967, Dorothy and Ed Sr. had five children:  Clifford, Cynthia, Kim, Todd (who tragically died at the age of four months), and Edward (“Ed Jr.”).  Dorothy was a devoted mother who spent countless hours looking after, raising, and in many cases spoiling her children.  She was a strict disciplinarian who didn’t hesitate to reach for the dreaded “wooden spoon” when her mischievous children got out of hand, but Dorothy mostly enjoyed spending time with Cliff, Cindy, Kim, and Ed Jr.  When not fussing about how to dress them in the latest styles for church, school or some other event, she played everything with them from golf, to volleyball, to badminton (a favorite that she often mused should have been called “goodminton”), to bowling, to croquet.  Her antics during these games were both unpredictable and hilarious, and often ended with everyone doubled over with laughter.  She was skilled at card games like Bridge, Pinochle, Hearts, and a game she and Ed Sr. called “Dammit!” (known in other circles as “Euchre”), the latter of which was played boisterously and often in the Groh household, particularly during the countless holiday gatherings Dorothy skillfully hosted over the years.  And many summer nights at the family’s vacation home on Lake Wallenpaupack were spent playing Probe, Milles Bornes, Monopoly, Risk, or Flinch well into the wee hours of the night.  It was rare to beat Dorothy at these games for sure, but none can claim ever to have beaten her at Scrabble, a game that played to her keen vocabulary skills – which she sometimes used to write beautiful poetry – and where she reigned supreme.  She was intelligent, fun to be with, and instilled a healthy sense of spirited competition in her children that has been passed onto her grandchildren and continues through this day.

Dorothy’s love for spending time with her family, playing games, engaging in antics, and playing practical jokes, was paralleled only by her love for animals.  Over the years she adopted and gave loving care to many pets, among them: Judge, a Beagle; Taffy, a German Shepherd-Collie; Poppy, an Airedale; Shawn, a Welsh Terrier; Peady, a Siamese; Annie, a Calico; Mocha, a Siamese; and Baba, a Tabby.  But her love for animals went beyond just the domesticated type.  There wasn’t a chipmunk, squirrel, bird, raccoon, possum, fox, groundhog, or deer, that ever entered her yard without immediately becoming a welcomed guest.  She was an animal-whisperer, and taught her children at an early age how to tame chipmunks and squirrels, and how to feed them by hand (much to the horror of Ed Sr., who was convinced some family member would wind up with rabies).  On warm spring and summer days at the family’s home in Montvale, New Jersey, she would open the kitchen windows and screens, line the windowsill with whole peanuts, then call to her blue jays, which would bravely land on the sill to take them while the family ate dinner mere feet away.  Years later, when the family moved to Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, she would open the kitchen window during dinner and coax wild racoons to take food from her hand, and possums to feed from dishes filled with treats.  Her crowning achievement, however, was to tame white-tailed deer – including a full-grown buck – to eat horse feed and cracked corn from a pile at her feet, as she gently stroked their heads and backs.

In the mid-1960s, Dorothy and Ed Sr. purchased a lakefront property on Lake Wallenpaupack in Paupack, Pennsylvania, where they built a dream vacation home, with their own blood, sweat and tears.  Over the years, she and Ed Sr. – a skilled, self-taught handyman who could build just about anything – finished and beautified the “Lake House” with the help of the children.  Dorothy was unfazed by hard physical labor, and spent entire days and weeks alongside Ed Sr. and the children at the Lake House, rolling up her sleeves to do everything from hauling stone to build the home’s parking area, to lifting timbers to help build steps down the hillside to the lakefront, to painting the home’s raised deck.  And when the hard work was done, Dorothy was quick to shift gears, suggesting that everyone rally for a quick spin around the lake in the family speedboat, or preparing some delicious meal.  The Lake House was a retreat for Dorothy and the family, and they spent quality hours swimming, boating, “hunting” crayfish, picking blueberries, golfing, and hosting extended family, including Dorothy’s beloved nieces, Fran and Beth (daughters of Joan and Fred).  Some of Dorothy’s most treasured memories have their origins at the Lake House.

Throughout the 1970s, Dorothy and Ed Sr. moved from one adventure to the next as Ed Sr.’s job at AT&T took the family first to St. Charles, Illinois, and then back to New Jersey.  Dorothy was adaptable throughout, and reinvented herself as the need arose.  Dorothy modestly would tell you that her only real job throughout life was that of a homemaker; and at that job she certainly excelled (her homes were always impeccably appointed and kept).  But in truth, she had a charming intellect that unfailingly landed her a variety of occupations whenever the urge to try something different struck her.  Over the span of her workings years – from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s – she was: a switchboard operator; a hand model; an architect’s assistant; a department store assistant manager; an administrative assistant; a home health aide; a nurse’s aide; a real estate agent; Assistant to the Director of International Affairs at Ortho Pharmaceutical; and a research librarian for Beneficial.

In the late 1970s, Dorothy and Ed Sr. moved to Tewksbury Township, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, where they remained until Ed Sr.’s tragic passing in 1997.  Those years were filled with countless memories of pool parties, backyard barbecues, and family gatherings.  Dorothy was famous for inventing or reinventing family traditions, and each family or holiday gathering was usually accompanied by lavish gifts for the family, and punctuated by some of her witty ideas.  A simple Easter dinner could quickly turn into an Easter-egg-cracking free-for-all (a German tradition that took on a crazy life of its own in the hands of the Groh family); a Christmas gathering could swiftly morph into a gift-wrapping competition, a drink-mixing contest, a sudden bake-off, or a Dammit! tournament.  And each gathering would inevitably lead to the whole family laughing uncontrollably.  Dorothy was at the center of it all, making each celebration an unforgettable event.

In 2000, several years after Ed Sr. passed, Dorothy moved to Columbus, New Jersey where she bravely spent the next ten years, determined to remain independent and self-sufficient.  She watched six beloved grandchildren grow up during this time and was a devoted and generous grandmother to Kim’s boys, Zachary and Douglas, Cliff’s girls, Laura and Kelley, and Ed Jr.’s girls, Olivia and Ava.  She attended church St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Bordentown, where she belted out her favorite hymns, and was active in her community, assisting elderly neighbors in need, participating in community events, and playing “Duplicate Bridge,” a favorite she and Ed Sr. had often played with friends when they lived in Tewksbury Township.  She also continued to participate enthusiastically in family events – such as the annual Groh family Summer Olympics, where she inevitably medaled or took “Gold” in some event – and looked forward to family gatherings, hosted now by her children to whom she had, over the years, imparted so much of what she knew and did as a successful mother and wife.

In 2014, at age 85, Dorothy returned to Hunterdon County, New Jersey, moving to Independence Manor at Hunterdon, where she received supportive care and much-needed rest after a lifetime of endless giving and adventure.  In June 2019, her children and grandchildren gathered around Dorothy to celebrate her 90^th birthday. Everyone sang songs and reminisced about old memories and stories that always brought Dorothy joy, and as usual, she laughed and sang along in a beautiful voice that defied her age.

Dorothy’s passing was hard but peaceful.  In the week leading up to her final days, she laughed with her children as they told the same family stories and jokes that never seemed to grow old.  Her children will miss the lady who gave them the gift of life, taught them so much, and made the world for every creature she touched a better place.

Dorothy is survived by her four children and their spouses:  Cliff and his wife, Anne Groh; Cynthia and her husband, Harry Baldeo; Kim and her husband, Brian Wunder; and Ed Jr. and his wife, Patricia Groh.  She is also survived by her six beloved grandchildren:  Zachary Wunder, Douglas Wunder, Laura Groh, Kelley Groh, Olivia Groh, and Ava Groh.

A celebration of Dorothy’s vibrant life, which no narrative can adequately summarize or express, is planned for Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. in the Chapel of Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 38 State Highway 31, Flemington, NJ. This will be preceded by visitation on Sunday from 10:00-11:00 a.m. at the funeral home.

Burial of Dorothy & Ed’s cremated remains will follow the services at Cokesbury Presbyterian Church Cemetery, 7 water Street, Lebanon, NJ, and to which all are welcome.

You are encouraged to visit Dottie’s permanent life celebration site at www.wrightfamily.com to light a candle of hope, leave messages of condolence, share words of comfort and recollection, and post photographs of her life.

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Wright & Ford, your local, family owned & operated “Life Celebration Home”