When Lee Clifton Gruber’s wife Carol Gruber was injured in a serious accident in the 1970s, it caused him to rethink his career choice.
For 17 years, he’d been a professor of Music at Youngstown University in Ohio and a member of the Youngstown Symphony. However, after her accident, he made a daring decision in 1976 to relocate his family to Marietta and become a doctor of chiropractic medicine.
After he graduated from Life University, he joined the school’s staff and spent the next 26 years serving as executive vice president, chief operating officer and full-time professor. He also owned and operated his own private chiropractic clinic in Marietta.
While living in Ohio and teaching music, Dr. Gruber also served as a deputy sheriff in Mahoning County to earn extra money. Carol Gruber often would fix a hot dinner and load their two sons into the car. They would find Dr. Gruber on his patrol and sit down as a family at a picnic table to have a meal. “We sometimes had to brush the snow off the benches so we could sit down, but this gave him a chance to see us in the evening and we all loved it,” Carol Gruber said.
Dr. Lee Clifton “Doc” Gruber, 75, of Marietta died Dec. 19 at Tranquility Hospice in Kennesaw of heart and lung illnesses. His memorial service will be at 2 p.m. today at Marietta Funeral Home.
Dr. Gruber was a member of the Kennesaw Masonic Lodge No. 33 and a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason. For more than 50 years, he made appearances as a clown named “Doc,”entertaining children at Shriner circuses and Shriner hospitals to help raise money for medical care. His son, Douglas Gruber of Dallas, would dress as a clown named “Spanky”and often performed with his father at Shriner events.
One of the Gruber family’s greatest loves was the outdoors. Dr. Gruber was active in Boy Scouts when his sons were young. One of his proudest moments was when his son, David Gruber of Marietta, became an Eagle Scout with Two Palms.
After the family moved to Georgia, they often would drive up to the north Georgia mountains on weekends in their camper. Dr. Gruber would take along his portable table so he could treat patients who had no access to a chiropractor. His wife said many of these patients would give him jams, jellies and food from their gardens because they did not have the money to pay. “His heart was as big as he was,” Carol Gruber said.
As a Mason, Dr. Gruber was also active in the child ID program around the state. Sometimes children didn’t want their fingerprints or dental impressions taken, but Dr. Gruber was always patient and unperturbed.
In addition to his wife and two sons, Dr. Gruber is also survived by six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
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