Vernon Warren Groves

Former Hastings resident Vernon W. Groves, 79, passed away on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, at Mount Carmel Home in Kearney, NE. 

Memorial Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, July 19, at First Presbyterian Church in Hastings with Rev. Damen Jensen-Heitman officiating. Burial will be held at a later date. There will be no viewing or visitation. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Hastings College Department of Music and/or First Presbyterian Church of Hastings. The service will be live-streamed on Livingston Butler Volland Funeral Home’s website. To view the service, go to Vernon’s obituary and click the play button shown towards the bottom of the page. 

Born November 7, 1944, in Coeur’d Alene, ID, the son of Varley and Christine (Robins) Groves, Vernon grew up in Spokane, WA, and graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in 1963. Active in music and theatre, Vernon studied piano and pipe organ at an early age and continued his education at Hastings College where he received the Bachelor of Music degree in 1967. While at Hastings College, Groves was active in the Hastings College Choir, American Guild of Organists, Alpha Chi Scholastic Honor Society, Weyer Hall as president, and Eta Phi Lambda Fraternity as treasurer. Additionally, he served as a part-time organist for several churches (including First Presbyterian Church – Hastings). As a senior at Hastings College, Groves received the Who’s Who award.

Following graduation, Groves was employed at Dutton-Lainson Company and began serving the First Presbyterian Church as primary organist (a position he held for over forty years). 

In that position, he provided music for weekly worship services, special services, weddings, and funerals, he performed solo recitals and accompanied various recitals and ensembles-including the FPC Chancel Choir. He also served as a deacon, and member of various church committees, and assisted in facilitating the Langenberg Music Endowment. While living in Hastings, Vernon was a charter member of the Bel Canto Ensemble (a semi-professional ensemble of seventeen singers) and the Hospice Choir, served on the Executive Board of the Community Concert Association, and participated numerous times in the Hasting College Scharf Alumni Choir.

Vernon was preceded in death by his parents and by his step-father, William Keating.