Our Staff

Our Staff

R. Fred Groff, III

Licensed Director
A respected Funeral Director, Fred was born in 1952 and grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the Mercersburg Academy in 1970 and later from Stetson University in 1974 with a Bachelor's in Business Administration. He also graduated from Catonsville Community College in 1975 with a degree in Mortuary Science.

Fred married Robin Shoop Groff in 1974. He and Robin live in New Holland, and are the parents of two sons. Robert F. Groff, IV, is an anesthesiologist and intensive care physician at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Robert is married to Stephanie, and they have one daughter, Isabella. Daniel W. Groff, is a Project Manager for Assured Solar Energy in North Yarmouth, Maine. Daniel is married to Kyle, and they have one son, Ellis. 


Fred's funeral career began in Baltimore in 1975 when he worked for the Henry W. Jenkins Funeral Home and the William E. Johnson Funeral Home. In 1976 he moved to Lexington, Kentucky, and worked for the Milward Funeral Homes. Fred returned to Lancaster in the fall of 1976. In January of 1977, he moved to New Holland to operate the George D. High Funeral Home in connection with the family business, Fred F. Groff, Inc.


Fred operated the Groff-High Funeral Home in New Holland from 1977 to 1980 when his firm merged with the C. Stanley Eckenroth Home for Funerals, Terre Hill, PA. He then operated the Groff-High-Eckenroth Funeral Home in New Holland and Terre Hill until 1985 when he purchased the business and real estate from his father. In 1999, he purchased the Beck Funeral Home, Inc. in New Holland from Edgar O. Beck and continues to own and operate these funeral homes.


Professionally, Fred is a member of the Selected Independent Funeral Homes, National Funeral Directors Association, Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association, and Lancaster County Funeral Directors Association as a former board member.


Fred has also been a leader in other local organizations. Formerly, he served as Past Board Chair of Wellspan Ephrata Community Hospital, also serving on the Executive Committee, Quality Management Committee and as a board member. He formerly served on the Wellspan Health Board and chaired its Quality Committee, and was a member of the Executive Committee and Compensation Committee. At Trinity Lutheran Church, New Holland, Fred has served as former President of Church Council and currently serves on the Outreach and Cemetery committees. He is also a member of the church choir and has sung with the Gap Male Chorus for the past thirty years. He is a member of the New Holland Rotary Club and the New Holland Business Association. He serves as President of the Lancaster Aero Club where he maintains his love of flying as an instrument rated Private Pilot. 


Fred enjoys golf, flying, recreation in Ocean City, Maryland and spending time in Atlanta with his granddaughter, Isabella and in Maine with his grandson, Ellis. You may contact him by phone or by emailing him at fgroff@groffeckenroth.com.


Loren Bender

Licensed Director
Loren has been affiliated with the funeral home since 1988. A native of Belleville, PA, he graduated from the Belleville Mennonite High School. He then received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Eastern Mennonite University and a diploma in Funeral Service from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. He received his funeral director's license in 1989 following his internship at the Heffner Funeral Home of York.

Professionally, he is a board member of the Lancaster County Funeral Director's Association, a member of the Pennsylvania Funeral Director's Association, and the National Funeral Director's Association. He also is a licensed life insurance agent in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the purpose of providing a funding vehicle for persons to prepay funeral expenses. Following additional training and testing, he received his Certified Preplanning Consultant designation from the National Funeral Directors Association.

Locally, he is a member of James Street Mennonite Church and has been a past board member of Upward Call Counseling Service in New Holland.

Loren is married to Judy (King) Bender, an Oncology Nurse at the Lancaster Cancer Center. They reside in New Holland and are the parents of two adult children:  Jonathan, a IT Developer at Hoober's , Inc. in Intercourse and Christy, a Registered Dietician at AHN Cancer Institute - Jefferson Hills, PA.

You may contact him by phone or by emailing him at benderl@groffeckenroth.com.

Randy Stoltzfus

Licensed Director
Randy joined Groff-High-Eckenroth in October of 2017. He is graduate of Lancaster Mennonite High School, received his B.S.B.A. from Geneva College, in Beaver Falls, PA, and his Diploma in Funeral Service from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. He is a member of the National Funeral Directors Association, The Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association and the Lancaster County Funeral Directors Association. Randy and his family attend Grace Community Church in Willow Street. His interests include hunting, fishing and golfing. For the past number of years he has enjoyed traveling to Lake Kipawa in Quebec with his family for a week of fishing and relaxation. He has been married 35 years to Melanie Barge Stoltzfus, who works at Keystone Wood Specialties, they have three sons, Clarke, married to Emily Cebulski Stoltzfus, is a medical school student at Temple, Grant is employed by the Pennsylvania State Department of Corrections at SCI Huntingdon as a Corrections Officer and Bradley is a student at Indiana University of PA and one grandson, Asa Stoltzfus.

You may contact him by phone or by emailing him at rstoltzfus@groffeckenroth.com.

Michaeline Rogers

Licensed Director

Michaeline joined Groff-High-Eckenroth in May of 2021. She is a graduate of Garden Spot High School, Class of 2016, after graduation she completed her general studies at Harrisburg Area Community College, Lancaster Campus and received her Diploma in Funeral Service from Northampton Community College, Class of 2019. Michaeline is originally from Elverson, PA and currently resides in East Earl, PA with her dog, Shanook. She is a member and holds the secretary position for Twin Valley Fire Department, a member of the Order of the Eastern Star #460, the President of the Lancaster County Funeral Directors Association, a member of The Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association and The National Funeral Directors Association. She loves going line dancing, traveling to the beach and Huntingdon, PA.


You may contact her by phone or emailing her at mrogers@groffeckenroth.com


Joyce Dyer

Administrative Assistant
Joyce has been with Groff-High Eckenroth Funeral Home as an Administrative Assistant since May 2016.
Joyce formerly lived in Shade Gap, PA and graduated from Southern Huntington County High School. She and husband Greg were married in 1980, and have one daughter Jennifer, married to Gregg Michael of New Holland, and 4 grandchildren. 
Joyce and Greg were Co-Owners of New Holland Camera from 1989-2008. Joyce then worked at the New Holland Recreation Center as Business Manage and Membership Director before coming to Groff-High.
In her space time Joyce enjoys quilting, gardening and spending time with her grandchildren, Harry Townsend, Christian, Hannah and Caitlin Michael.


You may contact her by phone or by emailing her at jdyer@groffeckenroth.com.

Susan Martin

Aftercare Coordinator
Susan has been with the funeral home since 2008 serving as the Aftercare Coordinator. She enjoys following up with families in the weeks after the services and helping to guide them through the many details that need to be taken care of after the death of a loved one. 

She graduated from Garden Spot High School and HACC with an Associates Degree in Human Services. She and her husband Jim lived in New Holland since they were married in 1984. They are the parents of one son, Nathaniel who is married to Katelyn and grandparents to two granddaughters. Her and her husband are members of Calvary Church in Lancaster where they serve in various roles. Susan enjoys hosting guests in their home and babysitting her granddaughters. Traveling is also a big part of her life. Her and her husband enjoy seeing the US and other countries around the world. 

You may contact her by phone or by emailing her at smartin@groffeckenroth.com.

David Maclay

Support Staff

David Maclay joined Groff-High-Eckenroth on December 5, 2016 as a funeral assistant and is in charge of facilities maintenance and upkeep for all the funeral home locations. Before working for the funeral home, he previously worked as a carpenter and also a personal caretaker for thirty-four years. Dave and his wife Julie were married in 1981, both born and raised in New Holland. After they were married they continued to reside in New Holland, where they raised their two sons, Adam and Cullen. He is a Garden Spot High School graduate, Class of 1976. He has many interests and hobbies that you can often find him doing, such as working on antique gas engines, gardening, and BBQing with friends and family. He is an avid hunter and fisherman and enjoys going to his hunting cabin in Huntingdon County as often as he can.



Deane Boyd

Support Staff
Deane and his wife Wanda are originally from Ashland, Ohio. Deane received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Bob Jones University in preparation for ministry. Before retiring at the end of 2015 he served 45 years as pastor of independent Bible churches in Somerset County, PA, Carroll County Maryland, and Elverson, PA. He remains active in teaching and pulpit supply as opportunities arise. He has worked part-time for the funeral home since 2016. The Boyds have the blessing of spending time with their two sons, one daughter, and seven grandchildren, all of whom live nearby. Special interests include reading, home maintenance projects, and visits to the shore. 


Amos Stoltzfus

Support Staff

Amos joined Groff-High-Eckenroth as a funeral assistant in the fall of 2020. Having grown up in the Morgantown, PA area, he taught at Conestoga Christian School and served as pastor of Rockville Mennonite Church for 23 years. After resigning in 2003, he served with EMM (Eastern Mennonite Missions) for 14 years. Five of those years he and his wife, Rowenna, lived in India. More recently he has been working with and helping churches as an interim pastor and spiritual adviser. Now semi-retired, Amos and his wife live in the Mohnton, PA area.


Gene Weaver

Support Staff


Wes Kopp

Support Staff


Ed Martin

Support Staff

Ed joined Groff-High-Eckenroth as a support staff, January 1 2022. He was born in Ephrata and grew up in Reamstown and graduated from Cocalico High School in 1973. Ed and his wife , Colleen were married on September 30, 1978 and are the parents of two children and four grandchildren and they reside in East Earl. He worked for forty eight years at Case New Holland (formerly Sperry New Holland) as an engineering shop tech and retired June 1, 2021. In his spare time, he likes going to the beach and the mountains, walking, cooking and working around the house. They attend New Life Fellowship in Ephrata, where he is actively involved with the worship team.


Bruce Klaassen

Support Staff

Bruce joined the staff at Groff-High-Eckenroth in December of 2021 as support staff. He grew up in Northeastern Lancaster County and graduated from Garden Spot High School in 1976. He worked for forty-four years at Case New Holland and retired in March of 2021 as an engineering shop tech. He married to his wife Jackie. They have three children and six grandchildren. He enjoys spending time with his family and following the grandchildren’s sports. He likes hunting, fishing and trapping. He spends a lot of time in the mountains, but also enjoys the beach. 


James Wetzel

Support  Staff

Jim joined Groff-High-Eckenroth in October of 2022. He graduated from Biglerville High School in 1978 and attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He has lived in Eastern Lancaster County since 1983. Jim has served in full time Christian ministry as a Pastor, church planter and serving in an administrative role with Eastern Mennonite Missions. In addition, he has worked for several community banks, most recently employed as a Consumer and Small Business Credit Manager. Jim is married and resides in Terre Hill. He has two sons and three grandchildren.


Richard Fitz

Support Staff

Richard joined Groff-High-Eckenroth in February of 2023. He will be retiring in June 2023 after 32 years of teaching in the ELANCO School District. During this time he was responsible for directing the marching band, concert band, jazz band, and middle school band in addition to numerous music electives. He also retired from the USAF and the PA Air National Guard in January 2020 after 35 years of honorable service. During this time he has served as Chief of Supply, Director of Training, and First Sergeant. He was deployed twice to the Middle East and provided mission support in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Richard is married to Janet Fitz and they have three daughters, Katie, Kendra, and Karoline.


Dwight Stone

Support Staff


James Bailey

Support Staff


Barry Hoffard

Support Staff


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