By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
ANDREW Groh’s smiling face looked down from the screens inside the Berwick Church of Christ where hundreds of people gathered for his funeral.
The Maramba Primary School principal passed away from cancer on 23 May, surrounded by his family and loved ones in much the same way that so many people were brought together at the church to bid him farewell.
He was 60.
The church was packed on Friday 29 May with many forced to stand on the sides and at the back to pay their respects to the man who had grown up in Doveton and given so much of himself to his local community and his profession.
Andrew’s wife, Alison, and daughter, Tahlia, delivered moving tributes to their husband and father, while his sons Jordan and Lachlan read their dad’s eulogy.
Maramba assistant principal Sue Peterken, a close friend of Andrew’s who shared his love of teaching, also offered her own touching tribute to the man who was loved by so many.
Andrew Patrick Groh was born on 17 March 1955 in Rose Park, Adelaide, and at four months old was adopted by Stefan and Cecilia Groh, immigrants from war-torn Hungary and Germany who were desperate to start a family in their new home.
They soon moved to Doveton where Stefan returned to the shoemaking trade, a skill he’d picked up in Germany.
“We always picked on Dad for growing up in Dovey but Dad always claimed he had the perfect childhood,” Lachlan and Jordan read at the service.
“He was an only child and they didn’t have much, but the burgeoning, largely immigrant neighbourhood was full of kids which meant day-long games of cricket and footy on the streets, canoeing down the dandy creek.
“He loved telling us about all the trouble he got into around the town.”
Andrew began his teaching career at Rosewood Downs Primary School in 1976.
After several years in the classroom, he became a specialist physical education teacher before moving to Nilma Primary School, then Carrum Downs, and later arriving at Berwick Primary School in 1984.
It was here where he met Alison, who Andrew used to say he’d “known from another life”.
The boys said their dad had always managed to put his own problems aside and saw the best in people, even during his short illness.
It was a beautiful way to approach life, they told the room, accept the bad and appreciate the good – “because life has plenty of both”.
Despite her grief, Alison vowed to continue on and promised to take her family with her.
“My love for my darling will last forever,” she said.
“And even though this has absolutely devastated me, and my beautiful children, and grandchildren, I promise to keep going in honour of the beautiful life we created.”
