Wesley Ervin Grunden

1920 - 2018

Wesley Ervin Grunden

Ventura, CA

Wesley Ervin Grunden, 97, passed away in Ventura on May 9, 2018. In his 97 years he called three places home. He was born in Oklahoma on July 18, 1920, eldest son and one of five children of John Emmanuel Ervin Grunden and Sylvia May Richards. His great great grandmother, Louisa Bell, walked the Cherokee Trail of Tears after his great great grandfather was shot in the back by marauding Yankees on horseback. His father was born in a covered wagon in Indian Territory.

Wesley's young life was characterized by hard work on the family farm. His baby brother died at age two of scarlet fever. In spite of hardship and poverty, he excelled at academics. He graduated from high school at the tender age of 16 and was the proud high scorer in a countywide academic competition. His academic performance was so impressive that his principal offered to lend him money to attend college. Responsibilities to help financially support his family precluded him from fulfilling that dream. Both parents had become physically disabled, and the combination of drought and the Great Depression made financial survival imperative.

At seventeen, he drove to California where he lived with his aunts in a small home on the corner of Kellogg Street and Ventura Avenue. He took a job at the lemon packing house on Pierpont Blvd scraping rotten lemons out of wooden shipping crates and sent the money home to his parents.

When World War II broke out his agricultural deferment allowed him to work his way up through the company ranks. When the deferment terminated in 1944 he joined the Army Air Force and was trained as a fighter pilot and flight engineer at the Air Force Aviation School in Denver. One of the highlights of his long life was learning to fly B-29 bombers, though he was forever grateful that he never had to go on a bombing raid.

He subsequently married Alice Emma Cooper, a close friend of his sister. He adopted her son, Ronald, and moved his young family to Oxnard after the war. He returned to his old job in the packing house and later rented two acres on Sherwin Avenue in Montalvo which he farmed after work.

He was a talented woodworker and an avid hunter and fisherman. No mountain was too steep for him to climb in quest of the ever-evasive five-point deer. No body of water too remote to drop a hook into. The family teased him for years for once sinking his Jeep in a beaver pond on one of his fishing trips and having to spend many hours deconstructing the dam, draining the pond, and then felling small trees to build a ramp. He headed home without a fish but never uttered a curse or complaint.

He retired as President and General Manager of what is now Coastal Corporation. He was respected and admired by co-workers and subordinates alike who appreciated his quiet patience and his personal integrity.

In 2006 he moved to Washington State to be near his daughter. Rural Central Whidbey Island reminded him of his days growing up in the farmlands of Kansas. He quickly adjusted to the slow pace in the village of Coupeville. He spent his days gardening and creating an immaculate yard filled with flowers. Each Fall he harvested apples and made large batches of mouth-watering apple butter which he shared with family and friends.

He was gifted with long life and good health. He finally relinquished his car keys on his 91st birthday. He fought a brave battle with Parkinson's Disease in his final years. He was a man of quiet Christian faith who lived his beliefs without imposing them on others.

Wesley Grunden is at rest in Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura. He was preceded in death by his wife of 71 years, his sisters Hazel Grunden and Mildred Irene Creason, his brother Robert Earl Grunden, and adopted son Ronald Grunden. He is survived by his dear brother Richard L. Grunden of Chula Vista, CA; daughters Margaret Potchatek of Whidbey Island, WA and Donna Beverly of Albany, OR; son Earl Grunden of Springfield, MO; and dear niece, Shirley Creason Soto of Broken Arrow, OK; and many grandchildren, great grandchildren, and a great great grandson who will be born this summer.

His daughters respectfully request that those who wish to make remembrances donate time, treasure, or talent to support the Gifted and Talented Program and the Arts Program at Montalvo Elementary School. They are forever grateful for the care and kindness of the faculty and staff for fostering a love of learning in underprivileged children.

They wish to leave this thought with others who are now experiencing loss: "Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come." (Tagore)