Pastor Lee B. Gruver

Pastor Lee Gruver, 84, passed away on Monday, May 12, 2025. Born on November 18, 1940, about nine months after his father, E. A. “Allen” Gruver, came home from working remote to see his mother, Bertha Elizabeth Biddle Gruver, on Valentine’s Day, Lee B. Gruver has always been a sweetheart.

Lee had an eventful and blessed life; from the time he was used early on as a human guinea pig for any wild idea his older brothers Clarence and Lonnie came up with. They thankfully made sure he stayed alive at least long enough to try the next endeavor – like seeing how strong the current of the Trinity River was in the river bottom of the Dayton Hill, by throwing him in the river with a rope tied around him. The water’s motion was too strong, but they managed to yank him back to them, while he gasped for breath, going under a little longer each time. Thankfully they were strong and quick enough so that he didn’t swallow too much water and completely drown.

Like any little brother, he was a pain, but he helped his older sister Velda by clearing a path to the outhouse away from the pesky chickens. Lee had daily, friendly fights with his neighbor Jeffrey, --friendly because they stopped long enough to catch their breath when he would get a nosebleed and then start up again. His mother stopped this the one day he managed to get the better of his friend. His mother also avoided him telling these and many other interesting stories before she had prepared their father by saying, “ Oh! Look at the redbird.”

Lee’s father was a stern taskmaster who taught him to think things through and to do things well- like building a barn with just the two of them when he was only a youngster, so Lee knew sleep time was over when he heard his father’s voice say, “ Jar the floor, boy.”

At the age of nine, Lee drove for his grandfather while he made sales on his Watkins route and he mowed south of Dayton for Mr. Sterling. He was adored by his younger sister Jimmie who correctly assumed her big brother could and did do anything- like high diving with the grace Olympians do now for an exhibition team in Houston.

With just the right physique, timing, and natural good looks, Lee was a gifted athlete at Dayton High School, elected Mr. Dayton High, and marched in the Broncho Band as a tuba player. During concert season he moved to the string section where his upright string bass sounded just like a piccolo when playing those small cue notes. He loved baseball, football, and track, continuing with softball into his adulthood as well as running for fitness. He also could water ski and got rides for free in the waters around Crosby and down to the bay. Just about the only thing athletic he didn’t do well was to Ice Skate.

An avid outdoorsman, hunter, and fisherman, he enjoyed the outdoors with a deep respect for the Creation the Lord had bestowed on humanity. He fished with his brother Lonnie especially while they were at ETBC together and then was drawn to a girl, Linda Diane Besch, who understood the importance of hearing geese flying overhead in the fall at Sam Houston, which led to a lively romance and eventual marriage in 1963, followed with the arrival of a daughter in 1964, and a son not too long after in 1967. He shared this love of nature with the family by taking them camping, hiking, and swimming whenever possible – including the Arizona Creek Wildlife Association and trips to the Smokies and the Rockies.

He loved photographing nature and family events, to grill the perfect steak, to teach his children and the neighborhood kids the skills he had learned and to love all kinds of music. He learned all the jobs at Armco Steel as a utility relief man, but specialized in metallurgy, and with that knowledge he held other jobs where expertise was required in the Houston, Liberty, and Beaumont area when that company shut down.

It wasn’t too long after a move to Liberty, that a long held prediction that he would make a good preacher (because he loved fried chicken) came to pass, starting with a revival at Heights Baptist Church in the 1970’s that rekindled his Love for the Lord, led to being a youth sponsor and discipleship teacher, becoming ordained as a deacon, and then working in the ministry. He started first in pulpit supply which led to bi-vocational preaching while still doing shift work in the steel industry.

At his first pastorate South Dayton, one highlight was his father joining in the Friday night fellowships. That led to his dad making his own decision to follow Christ, be baptized, and later be found studying the Bible with tears in his eye for waiting such a long time to turn to the Lord. At Calvary in Liberty on FM 563, Lee had the joy of growing a church, leading many to Christ, and the opportunity to baptize a great number. When Lee pastored at Central Baptist in Daisetta while he battled leukemia, he had the opportunity to be ministered to by his congregation. His last pastorate of Batson Prairie Baptist was one of lifelong friendships who both celebrated with him at the marriage of his daughter and stood together with him when he lost his son and then, more recently, his wife.

He made lifelong friends wherever he went, enjoyed people, and also just smiling, saying that “people had more fun than anyone else he knew”. That love of life helped him in his fight against leukemia that included a heart valve replacement due to an infection, all of which further invigorated his call to preach ---so that people would know the love of the Lord and the abundant life God had for us to live as we followed the Way, the Truth and the Life. He enjoyed a long, full, joyous life even in the hardships of living in this world, and instilled the values of hard work and discipline, with love and laughter in his children. Loved by so many, he was a great husband and provider, and the best dad ever.

Pastor Lee is preceded in death by his parents Elten Allen Gruver and Bertha Elizabeth Biddle Gruver, his wife Linda Diane Gruver, his son Lee B Gruver Jr., brothers, Clarence Allen Gruver and Lonnie Gruver. He is survived by his daughter Christi Gruver, sisters Velda Karen Nichols and Jimmie Lou Powe, along with numerous nieces, nephews and a large church family and ministry partners.

A visitation will be held on Friday, May 16, 2025, from 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm at Faith and Family Funeral Services, Batson, Texas. Funeral services will commence at 2:00pm on Saturday, May 17, 2025, officiated by Pastor Tim Gruver at Heights Baptist Church, Liberty, Texas. Interment to follow at Oakdale Cemetery, Daisetta, Texas with Pastor Bill Fabriguze.