Obituary

Wayne Nicarry, one of the three founding members of mobile crane manufacturer Grove, died on May 29, at his Pennsylvania home at the age of 85. A lifelong Pennsylvania resident, Nicarry was born in 1919 in Franklin County and with Jon and Dwight Grove, formed Grove Manufacturing at Shady Grove, Pennsylvania, at the location where the Grove factory remains today.

The company began life manufacturing rubber-tired farm wagons in 1947 and developed into one of the largest mobile crane manufacturers in the world. During his time at the head of the company, more than 20,000 new hydraulic mobile cranes rolled out of the factory doors before Nicarry retired, as president, in 1985. A longstanding member of the Church of the Brethren, Nicarry first served as a minister in 1944, and continued to do so for many years in southern Pennsylvania. As a local philanthropist he served on the Elizabethtown College board of trustees for 31 years and chaired the board for seven years, receiving an honorary doctorate from the college. He married Frances in 1939 and the two remained together until her death in 2000.

The funeral was on June 3 at the Chambersburg Church of the Brethren in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Wayne is survived by his two sisters, two sons, two grandsons, and one step-great-grandson.