Nicholas James Groom

Nicholas James Groom

 

September 22, 1996 — November 10, 2021

 

Nicholas James Groom was born September 22, 1996, to Scott and Rebecca Groom. The youngest of four kids, Nicholas was very much the baby of the family. In 2018, he became a big brother and relinquished that title. Nicholas had a huge heart and a deep love for his family. He had two older sisters, Randii and Kendra, one older brother, Kaleb, and a baby brother, Grayson. He was a proud uncle to niece, Aubrey, and nephews, Kyrie and Landon. He was a friend to many and cared so deeply about his people. He was known to stay up all night to help a friend in struggle. He loved the outdoors and spent summer afternoons catching snakes, fish and crawdads in the creek behind his family home. As a young child he often came inside at the end of the day covered in dirt.

Nicholas had always dreamed of joining the military, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He enlisted in 2017 and left for Fort Jackson, South Carolina on July 31, 2017. He completed basic training and went on to Fort Lee, Virginia for AIT. In January 2018 he deployed to Baumholder, Germany. Nicholas was a cook in the Army and gained a love for the culinary craft during his service. Once he returned to the U.S., he was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. He was discharged from the Army in 2019, and returned home to Walla Walla, at which time he had various jobs, including cooking at Wingmanz Birds & Brews and stocking shelves at night time at Safeway. Nicholas began cooking at The Blue Mountain Tavern in May 2021 and had recently begun cooking at Red Monkey in August 2021. He was known to go above and beyond to serve his customers and help out his teammates, something he was very proud of.

Nicholas joined the Army Reserves in August 2021, stating that he missed his life in the military. Nicholas was very passionate about ending veteran suicide. He shared posts on his social media page of himself doing the “22 push up challenge” to bring awareness to the statistic that 22 veterans take their own life every day. He consistently shared information about the Til Valhalla Project, which was founded in 2017 and helps bring awareness to the tragic loss of veterans who die by suicide. To this day they have received a little over 1 million dollars in donations and has saved 200 + lives since its start.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider making a donation to this organization in Nick’s name and honor him by completing the monthly 22 a day pushup challenge to bring awareness to the tragic loss of veteran life on American soil. “A HERO never dies until their name is spoken for the last time.” Services will be held on Monday, November 29, 2021, at Herring Groseclose Funeral Home at 10 a.m.