When Mrs. Annette Hadden Valentine, author of a trilogy based upon her family’s heritage, held a book signing at the Historic 1835 Todd County Courthouse in December 2019, Mr. Jimmy Groves shared with Ms. Annette that Ms. Annette’s grandfather, the late Joseph Newton Hadden, had mentored Mr. Jimmy following Mr. Jimmy’s father’s death at a younger age.
Those who have lived in Todd County for several years will share Mr. Jimmy was a well-known Todd Countian who served as the President of the Todd County Sesquicentennial Corporation of 1971. As most know, the Sesquicentennial Celebration included a week-long series of events that concluded on Saturday, May 1, 1971, with the burial of a Time Capsule on the east lawn of the Historic 1835 Todd County Courthouse, now the site of the Todd County Welcome Center. At the event honoring Todd County’s Bicentennial in 2020, Mr. Jimmy shared with the audience, “When I stood on the Square 50 years ago and entombed this Time Capsule on that warm spring afternoon, I gave no thought I would be here for the disinterring of it on its 200th anniversary.”
Mr. Jimmy, who also served as the Honorary Chairperson of the 2020 Bicentennial Committee, entered life on June 24, 1934 at his family’s home on Goebel Avenue in Elkton, the son of the late Mike and Viola Blake Groves. Mrs. Pam McGehee, current CEO of Elkton Bank & Trust, shared, “We are so very honored to have had Jimmy as a member of the Elkton Bank & Trust Company Board of Directors. He joined our board in 1984 serving on various committees, 25 years as board secretary, and later as vice-chairman. Most recently he served as a Director Emeritus for EB&T. He has certainly been an asset to our bank and the community we serve.” Pam’s remarks are words echoed everywhere as Mr. Jimmy was named a few years ago a Director Emeritus of Historic Todd County, Inc. following several years serving as a director for that organization. Interestingly, Mr. Jimmy was one of the founding fathers of HTC, serving alongside the late Bill Longhurst of Guthrie, the late Bryan Blount, and Glenn Slack, current president of HTC…