Abigail Groom

Abigail Groom (nee. McCarthy) (b. 5th April 1929 - d. 20th February 2001) was a resident of North Grove during her whole life.

Her father died during World War Two and her mother died during childbirth in 1950 in which her younger sister also died. Her and her younger brother both had to fend for themselves, spending more than a couple of nights sleeping rough.

In 1955, her younger brother joined the army and she continued with her studies to become a nurse, which she successfully completed.

It was during her training as a nurse when she met Jim Groom. He was from a working class background and the two soon fell in love and married in 1959, which they remained until her death in 2001.

The marriage produced four children: Henry Groom (b. 1961), Charles Groom (b. 1963), Edward Groom (b. 1967) and Catherine Thomas (b. 1970).

Childhood
Abigail didn't have an easy childhood, her father was in the army and her mother worked in a factory making clothes. They were not rich but they were comfortable. Abigail had a younger brother born in 1931 and to everyone else they represented the perfect little family. Her mother and father loved each other dearly and the children were doing well in school.

In 1940, her family home had a telegraph sent home that informed them of her father's demise in France. The news left her mother devastated and Abigail had to quit school to get a job to help pay the bills.

After the war ended, Abigail was able to go back to school but she never really enjoyed it anymore and so she stopped going for good.

During the late 1940s, her mother started dating another man and in 1950 she became pregnant. With the family growing, Abigail was more than happy to meet her new sibling but tragedy struck the family again when her mother died during childbirth and her little sister died just three hours later.

Her mother's boyfriend left the two siblings to fend for themselves and with Abigail having no schooling and her brother not doing so well in his education the two slept on the streets rough for a few months before Abigail scored a job as a shop keeper and her brother joined the army.

The 1950's
Abigail was convinced by her boss to take up nurse training as their local hospital was accepting recruits and so she placed her name down in 1954 and she completed her training in 1958.

Her brother joined the army and was shipped off to Egypt during the Suez Crisis. Abigail never saw her brother again as he immigrated to America, however they did send a few letters back and forth over the years until he was killed during the Vietnam War in 1968 leaving behind a wife and two children.

In 1957, she was doing a fifteen hour shift when part of the east wing of the hospital was set on fire. The hospital was set into a panic and Abigail was integral in keeping the harmony and afterwards she met Jim Groom, a fireman.

The two seemed to hit it off and in 1959 the two were married in the church in North Grove with a few friends around them.

Marriage and Motherhood
Abigail and Jim took to marriage well and they even managed to make up enough money to get a boat and a train to France for their honeymoon for two weeks.

In 1961, the couple had their first child called Henry. Abigail loved being a mother as she felt like she had a proper family for the first time in her life and when she had a miscarriage in 1962, she was devastated and almost fell into a depression as she felt like she had failed Jim.

However, the family started to get over the miscarriage and she became pregnant again. She gave birth to another boy in 1963 named Charles.

During this time, Abigail and Jim befriended May and Brian Porter as they had children of a similar age and Abigail was finally starting to settle into her family nicely which included gossiping with her friend May.

In 1967, Abigail had her third and last son - Edward. The family doted on their three boys but Abigail and Jim both knew that they wanted to have one last child to make their family complete, especially after Abigail heard about her brother's death.

Although Abigail was 41 years old, she gave birth to a daughter named Catherine. With their family complete, Abigail concentrated on her career and when she was 45 years old, she became Head Nurse.

Transition from Motherhood to becoming a Grandparent
Abigail's second son Charles found love in the form on May and Brian's youngest daughter Frances. From high school, the two were in love and when Charles came to his parents to announce that they would be getting married at the tender age of 18 it made Abigail annoyed which damaged her friendship with May and her new husband Roger.

Abigail was not against the relationship as she had known Frances her whole life and knew she was a good girl, she just did not approve of their marriage so early in their lives. She wanted the two of them to explore the world before deciding on such an important event in their lives.

However, they went along with the ceremony and at the last minute, Abigail relented and she attended the wedding.

This marriage produced her first grandchild: Annie who was born in 1986 and once again, Abigail loved to see the children running around her house.

Henry was the next to get married in 1985 to Hilda although this marriage was short lived as in 1993 the couple divorced. The couple had two children though, Ian born in 1987 and Kirsty was born in 1991.

In 1991, Abigail's daughter Catherine had a daughter herself with boyfriend Finn Weston named Madison. Abigail was happy to see Catherine happy and in love but in 1996, tragedy struck and Madison died in a car accident. The death crippled Abigail who doted on the child and to see her grandchild die was one of the worst moments in Abigail's life who could do nothing to console her own daughter.

Overall, Abigail and Jim had sixteen grandchildren between their four children, she only met thirteen of them.

Death
In late 2000, Abigail was diagnosed with a brain tumour that turned into terminal. Knowing she did not have long left, she became a lot closer to her family and spent as much time with her grandchildren as possible, especially her youngest grandchildren.

On the 20th February 2001, Abigail succumbed to the tumour and died surrounded by her family and friends.

Her death affected her husband Jim the most as they had relied on each other a lot and were married for 42 years. Jim moved in with eldest son Henry whilst he coped with the death of his wife.

Family
Mother: Joan McCarthy

Father: Vernon McCarthy

Brother: Lawrence McCarthy

Sister: Renee McCarthy

Husband: Jim Groom

Children: Henry, Charles, Edward and Catherine

Grandchildren: Annie Buckley, Ian, Bailey, Kirsty, Molly, Madison Tina, Nate, Seth, Ella Thomas, Rhiannon, Jay and Brandon

Great-Grandchildren: Kayla and Jane Groom

Daughter-In-Laws: Hilda, Frances and Jackie

Son-In-Law: Eric

Sister-In-Law: Beverley McCarthy

Nephew: Todd McCarthy

Niece: Kennedy McCarthy