Wayne Edward Groner, age 82 of Battlefield passed away April 11, 2022 at his home in Battlefield. He was born July 29, 1939 in Marshall, Missouri to Al and Dixie (Spohrer) Groner. He was the middle of three sons. His parents; older brother Jack; and son Philip preceded him in death. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Eryleene; their daughter Heidi Bullington, her husband Lonnie and their children Sarah and Alex all of Antioch, California; daughter-in-law Allyson Groner and her children Parker and Pierce, all of Clive, Iowa; his brother Gene Groner and his wife Kathleen of Independence, Missouri; and many nieces and nephews.

Wayne graduated from Marshall High School and attended Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. He was a news reporter and news anchor for KTTS radio and KTTS-TV in Springfield, Missouri when he met Eryleene Madden. They married November 26, 1965 in the Springfield home of her parents Ed and Edna (Sloan) Madden. He loved family activities including Christmas, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries and travels with his family. Eryleene liked to say she dipped her toes into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1970, Wayne was elected to the first of two terms as a state representative from Greene County in the Missouri General Assembly. After his second term, he became associate director of development and then director of estate planning at Graceland College, now Graceland University. He was fundraising executive for Graceland and three other colleges in Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas for a total of 27 years, including nine years as a vice president. In Nebraska he was pastor of the Community of Christ congregation in Walthill. He retired to Battlefield, Missouri in 2004.

He was an elder in the Community of Christ and active in the Chapel for Peace Congregation in Springfield, Missouri, where he had been Sunday school director, Sunday school teacher, hospital minister, and counselor to the pastor. He wrote Sunday school lessons for teenagers and adults. Wayne loved hymns and scriptures. He selected the hymns and scriptures for his service of remembrance.

He had been an actor in the Springfield Little Theatre and in community plays in Parsons, Kansas; volunteer fund raiser for the Greater Ozarks Chapter of the American Red Cross; a volunteer hospice chaplain, board member and treasurer of Community Hospices of America Foundation, board member of Retired Seniors Volunteer Program and shopper for RSVP's Homebound shopper program. He presented workshops to churches and community organizations on fundraising methods, writing memoirs and planning sermons.

He was past-president of Springfield Writers Guild, a freelance writer of magazine and newspaper articles and book reviews. He was an author of five nonfiction books, three of them with his longtime friend, Dorsey E. Levell.

Wayne liked York mints, chocolate chip cookies and Western movies. He laughed loud and often and enjoyed one-line zingers on himself and others.

A visitation will be held from 10:00AM to 11:00 AM Monday, April 18, 2022 at Klingner-Cope Family Funeral Home chapel at Rivermonte, Springfield. The service of remembrance will follow at 11:00 AM in the chapel. Burial will follow at Rivermonte Memorial Gardens, Springfield.