“… the purpose of this world is not 'to have and to hold' but 'to give and to serve.'“

David Lawrence Grove was born on April 25'", 1918 in Boston. Coming into this world six months before the end of the First World War, his long life saw some of humanity's most turbulent and formative times. The days of Empire gave way to the rise of many new nation states, new and concerted efforts to bring harmony to the world through the League of Nations and then the United Nations. America became an economic powerhouse and commerce and technology ushered in our world of today. Not only did David 's close-on century-long life witness these events but. he was in many ways a key figure among those who helped to shape them. He leaves a legacy of economic influence that has helped to shape positive progress in many parts of the world.

David Grove attended Boston Latin School, where one of his classmates was Leonard Bernstein. In fact, both of them then went on to Harvard though, of course, in different directions. David went on to graduate Magna cum laude. A Master's in Public Administration and a PhD in Economics, also from Harvard, followed. During  the  Second World  War, he served  with the  Office of Strategic Services. His brilliant mind served his country well, and he went on to be an economist for the Federal Reserve. He was instrumental during this time in helping to develop central banking systems for a number of countries, especially in Latin America and South East Asia. The government of Guatemala was particularly grateful to him for his work , making him a decorated officer of its Order of Merit.

In 1942 he married Lois Pawlowski and they had one daughter, Carolyn. Lois was a long-time member of this church, singing in the choir here for many years. She passed away in 2008. In 2011, David married Elzbieta, who had for a number of years looked after both David and Lois and who was such a strength and support to David over these past few years.

David's career was both highly influential and very much in the public eye. He was vice president for Bank of America, and then chief economist and vice president for IBM, and served as an economic adviser to five US Presidents. Despite his high profile and his place in the corridors of power - or perhaps because of it - David sought out personal satisfaction and accomplishment in quiet, thorough research, a forensic curiosity about a vast range of subjects and a great love of aesthetic expression. He appreciated music, and was especially drawn to Mozart and his Requiem, from which we will hear shortly. But what drew him most, and fired a lifelong love was the combination of aesthetic beauty and meticulous and patient research found in the cultivation of orchids. He became one of the world's foremost experts on these beguiling and enticing flowers, authoring a volume on one genera, and producing his own hybrids.

In many ways, David was happiest at home in Armonk, with his family and friends, and his orchids.  He became a greatly valued figure in this small community, volunteering his time on the Finance and Budget Board of the Town, and helping the Police Department with their financial administration. I know that many in our community will want to pay tribute to his public service.

That sense of public service was formed at a very early age. As a child he was fascinated by turtles, and built up quite a collection, which , at the age of fourteen in 1932 he donated in its entirety to the Boston Museum of Natural History. Elzbieta has a brochure from the museum from that time with a photograph of a bespectacled David presenting a model he had made to the noted scientist and missionary Sir Wilfrid Grenfell (a Brit, incidentally - and, even more interesting, a saint in the Episcopal Church, with his feast day on 91 October, the day this church was founded ). David would have shared Sir Wilfrid Grenfell's outlook on life in many ways.

Grenfell is reputed to have said this in respect of his vocation in this world,

  " The service we render to others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth. It is obvious that man is himself a traveler; that the purpose of this world is not 'to have and to hold' but 'to give and to serve.' There can be no other meaning.”

In the short time that I have been able to hear about  David 's life and work, it seems to me that this is a fitting phrase. I wish that I had had the chance to get to know David myself: I feel that I would have enjoyed discussing a whole range of subjects  with him, not least theology. As I will mention in more detail in a moment, David had significant reservations about organized  religion, yet  what shines through in the conversations that I have had about David paints a picture of someone who recognized spirituality and was drawn to knowing more about it.

Ultimately , I believe that he was someone who recognized that there was a bigger purpose and meaning to our earthly  existence  than simply subsisting, and that there was something bigger than just we ourselves. I believe that David lived his life with that sense of calling and we are grateful that he did. He left this world a richer place because of it.

Address for the interment of David L. Grove Sunday 3181 July, 2016 - St. Stephen's Cemetery, written by the Reverend Nils Chittenden, Rctor of St. Stephen’s Church, Armonk NY