College pioneer Groening dies

A.A. Groening, who helped moved Albany College to Portland where it eventually became Lewis and Clark College, died Thursday in a Portland hospital. He was 87.
Groening was born in Hillsboro, Kan, and graduated from Tabor College in Kansas. He received his master's degree from the University of Oregon and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Kansas.
He joined the faculty of Albany College in 1930 and was dean of the college in 1935 when the decision was made to open a division of the school in Portland. Albany College's student population was dwindling, and school leaders wanted to attract Portland students.
Groening suggested renting space in downtown Portland and sending professors there twice a week to hold classes. In 1937 the college moved from Albany to Portland but was still called Albany College. In 1942 the school inherited the site where Lewis and Clark is located. Albany College moved to the side and was renamed Lewis and Clark.
From 1936 until 1942, he was on the faculty at Linfield College. In the summer of 1942, he taught navigation classes at Madras Air Base, and that fall he returned to Lewis and Clark College to head the physics department.
On 7 August 1917 Hamilton, Montana he married Elisabeth Nikkel.
His wife, Elizabeth, taught the Russian language at Lewis and Clark.
He and his wife retired in 1964 and in 1965 they joined the faculty of Pacific University.
When his wife died, he established the Elizabeth Groening Memorial Scholarship Fund at Lewis and Clark College.
Surviving are two sons, Dr. Victor Groening of Seattle and Homer of Portland; a daughter, Ellene Monnes of Gresham; two sisters, Anna Bartel of Newton, Kan., and Agnes Friesen of Hillsboro, Kan.; three brothers, Frank of Hillsboro, Kan., Sam of Fresno, Calif., and Ted of Boulder, Colo.; 11 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
A Memorial gathering was held Thursday. Interment was private.

[The Oregonian, 21 Feb 1981, p26 w/photo]