Grover Easterling Sr.

Grover D. Easterling, Sr., went home to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus on Monday, July 26, 2021, after 79 purpose-driven years. Born March 4, 1942, in Lake Village, Arkansas, Grover was the seventh of eight children born to the union of Paul and Rosetta (née Love) Easterling.  Grover was named after his mother’s brother.  Coincidentally, his family affectionately nicknamed him “Brother.”

In his teen years, Grover was a charming and handsome young man.  So much so, girls would line up at school dances to dance with him.  He was one of the few boys who actually knew how to dance; Grover had taught himself to do “the Bop” using a door as his practice dance partner.  Grover was also athletic.  In 1959, his junior year, Grover was a member of Lake Village’s Central High basketball team playing in Arkansas’s Negro Boys State Tournament Championship. Please note: there is some serious dispute as to which team actually won the championship that year.

After graduating from Central High in 1960, Grover was part of the Great Migration of African Americans moving from the South to the North.  He moved in with his older brother Joseph and his family in Chicago, Illinois.  While in Chicago, Grover quickly landed a job at S.S. Kresge’s working the lunch counter as a short-order cook.  It was said co-workers found his split pea soup so delicious, actual paying customers rarely got the chance to enjoy it.  Grover was very thrifty; he would rather save 50 cents and walk miles than ride Chicago’s elevated “L” train system to work.  Soon, Grover would find a job with the Mutual Maintenance Company.   In 1962, this job would lead to a transfer to oversee Mutual Maintenance’s custodial contract with the Continental Can Company in Saint Joseph, Michigan.  It was during this time Grover moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan.  Grover then sent for his younger brother Lilton to join him in Michigan, securing a job for Lilton with the Mutual Maintenance Company as well. 

In 1963, Grover returned to Lake Village to marry the girl, now woman, he had met at Central High some five years earlier.  They had been corresponding by mail since he had left home.  Grover married Bettie Lee Cole on May 26, 1963, in the front room of his sister’s home, officiated by his father Elder Paul Easterling.  Grover and Bettie returned to Michigan to start their life together.  They would have four children over the next 11 years: Kathleen L. Easterling of Benton Harbor; Grover D. (Nicole) Easterling, Jr of Troy, MI; Angela D. Easterling of Benton Harbor; and Jennifer Easterling of Detroit, MI.  His children went on to pursue careers in social work, the Department of Defense, transportation, and Business/Human Resources. Grover was determined to provide for his family and give them the life he felt they deserved. He was very pleased by his family and did his best to support them.  Grover was a dedicated father and he was a loving husband to Bettie for 58 years. His knowledge, guidance, and wisdom was the foundation of his family.

Always business-minded, Grover was determined to be self-employed and in 1967, he and Lilton formed a business partnership to establish Easterling Janitor Service. Their first contract was with Continental Can Company.  Some joked calling the two of them the “Broom Brothers” nicknaming one “Big Broom” and the other “Little Broom.”  Regardless of the nicknames, these were two self-made men.  Their company would go on to have contracts with all types of businesses throughout the area to include Federal buildings, county buildings, a pickle factory, a Lutheran school, a Montessori school, Benton Harbor Area Schools, and the Michigan Department of Transportation, just to name a few.  Although many businesses owned by siblings do not last, Easterling Janitor Service continues today, 54 years later.

Forever the athlete, Grover taught himself to bowl using an old couch to practice throwing the ball down the lane instead of practicing at an alley.  He had gotten so good that in 1965 he received a trophy for his “First High Game.”  It was for a score of 265.  He has said he would have gotten a perfect score of 300 if he had not realized a perfect score was not easy; he came to this realization when everyone starting gathering around to see him throw strikes.  He would later go on to be part of the first black bowling league in the area.

Ever up for a challenge, Grover was introduced to the game of golf in 1967 when the foremen at Continental Can needed a substitute for a golf outing.  The next time they came through the plant asking for a sub they tried to dismiss Grover’s participation, saying he did not have clubs, but he surprised them, he had picked up a set of women’s golf clubs and was teaching himself the game using books from the public library.  Grover would go on to find there were other African Americans playing golf in the area.  In order to play more often, they formed a black golf league in Benton Harbor and became part of an eight-city statewide league as well as a 12-state regional league, which allowed them to play several different courses without the pressures of status and race.  Grover was always trying to get more and more African Americans involved in the game, involved in the league.  He also volunteered with the First Tee program teaching young people to play and enjoy the game.  Over the years, Grover won numerous individual and team trophies for league play.  The golf league name was changed to “In the Groove with Grover” in 2020.  His last time on the course was league play the Thursday before he passed. 

Grover was also a sportsman.  He liked living in Michigan because it gave him a chance to hunt and fish.  While he liked hunting pheasant, rabbits, and other small game, he loved to fish.  Especially fishing in his boat, alone.  He really enjoyed the opportunity to be out in nature on a lake with his own thoughts and with no one to rush him or keep him out longer than he wanted or needed.  Sometimes it was just about clearing out all the thoughts that refreshed him.  That and he also enjoyed eating fish: bluegill, catfish, trout, and bass, what have you. In September of 1975, he got his picture in The Herald-Palladium newspaper because he caught a 42-inch chinook salmon in the Paw Paw River; for the anglers, he used a Red Eye lure on a 12-pound test line and it took about 40 minutes to reel it in.

Besides being active within the city of Benton Harbor by serving on the city Planning Commission for several years under Mayor Joel Patterson and the late Mayor Wilce L. Cooke, Grover truly enjoyed Benton Harbor High School basketball.  From the 60’s until this past 2021 season, the Tigers basketball team could count on Grover Easterling to cheer them on and to support them on and off the court.  Grover and Easterling Janitor Service supported the teams throughout the years, helping students who could not afford gear or helping to pay for meals for out-of-town games.  The coaches knew Grover loved not only the game of basketball but also what the team sport could teach the students about life.  For many many years, Grover had season tickets/reserved seats to all the Tigers home basketball games and he would travel to many of the out-of-town games to support the team.  It did not really matter if it was a regular great season of Tigers basketball or an extraordinary season of Tigers basketball; it just had to be Tigers basketball!  The coaches also knew Grover would bring gum for the players on the sidelines. Grover was fiercely passionate about making sure the young people knew they had a place in this country and the world.

It was around 1980 that Grover rededicated his life to Jesus Christ.  His wife, his brother Lilton, and sister-in-law Irene had all made this decision at Brotherhood Church of God in Christ (C.O.G.I.C) in the years prior under then Elder James Atterberry.  Grover made his decision during a revival by the late Bishop Chandler Owens hosted at Community C.O.G.I.C.  Grover never looked back.  In 1986, he would go on to be a founding member of Full Gospel Christian Center, when his brother Lilton was called to follow in the footsteps of their father and pastor a church.  Grover rarely missed a single day of Sunday school, bible study, or church, that is, until the COVID-19 Pandemic, which began in 2020.  Nonetheless, over 40 years Grover developed an unwavering faith in God, sharing with those who surrounded him not just through his words but also by his example.

Anyone who knew Grover knew that he was a most loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, and mentor a family or community could ask for.  In the most recent years, he had taken to sitting in his recliner, going through his phone book, and being sure to reach out to all of his nieces, nephews, sisters, brother, in-laws, cousins, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends from grade school through new ones he had only just met.  Especially during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic encouraging everyone to be safe and to get vaccinated.

When Grover received an acute kidney failure diagnosis in 1986, he surprised the doctors and nurses by walking into the hospital emergency room under his own steam.  The doctors said his kidneys were only functioning at 4 percent; they thought he should have been unconscious and on a gurney.  Soon after the diagnosis, Grover began peritoneal dialysis until a kidney became available for a transplant in 1988.  Unfortunately, the kidney rejected after five years and Grover again began peritoneal dialysis until he received a second kidney transplant in 1997.  The second transplant lasted 20 years before he began hemodialysis in 2017.  Grover persevered for 35 years after his initial diagnosis…he was a walking miracle! 

Grover was predeceased by his parents Paul and Rosetta; brothers, Charles and Joseph; and sisters, Iniece Cleveland, Bernice Brown, and Cornelius Thompson.

He leaves the following to cherish the memories of his life: his wife Bettie; his four children: Kathleen, Grover (Nicole), Angela, and Jennifer; his six grandchildren: Dinecha N. Green and Sylice Taylor of Benton Harbor, MI; Grover D. Easterling III of Detroit, MI; Robert A.X. Easterling of Shelby Township, MI; Nick Easterling of Troy, MI; and Michael Gilcrese Jr. of Benton Harbor, MI; his three great-grandchildren: Anijah D. Dancer, Miracle L. Green, and Romyn J. Taylor of Benton Harbor, MI; one sister,  Elizabeth Trigleth of Lake Village, AR; and one brother, Lilton (Irene) Easterling of Benton Harbor, MI; a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and so many friends.

Grover was a dedicated servant of the Lord living his life following two of his favorite bible verses, John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” and Psalms 133:1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

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