Philip Moore Gruner, 98, died peacefully on May 21, 2010 at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee after a period of declining health. He was buried the following day at the Little Rock Cemetery near his home in Collinwood, TN after a brief graveside ceremony conducted by the McDonald Funeral Home and attended by his immediate family.
Philip (or Phil, as he was usually called) was born Feb 10, 1912 in Winfield, Marion County, Alabama, the youngest son of Benjamin Sam Gruner and grandson of Wenzel Gruner, who had come to this country in 1849 with his parents, the Baron Franz and Katharina (Bergmann) von Gruner. His mother was Ellen White Fant of Franklin County, AL.
Philip spent his early years as the son of a railroad station agent. In 1925, he moved with some of his family to Detroit to work in the growing auto industry. He was afforded the opportunity of attending the Ford Trade School after which he was given a job with the Ford Motor Company and rose to a management position as an automotive engineer before resigning to form his own tool and die making company. During World War II, he was released from military duty to be trained as an aircraft engineer for the War Department.
He married Rosie Thornton of Hickman County, TN in 1940. She preceded him in death in 2004 after a marriage that lasted almost 64 years. He was buried beside her.
About 1960, Phil and Rose bought a 300 acre wilderness tract in southwestern Tennessee, near Collinwood, in Wayne County. Lying near the old pioneer trail, the Natchez Trace, it had been an old Stagecoach stop, later became Rock Canyon Resort. There were nine waterfalls, an old mill and a stagecoach inn that had become a dance hall in later times. Phil gradually developed the property and converted the building into a modern home. He retired in the early 1970’s and moved there with his family. He stayed there until just a few years ago, when he sold the property and moved into a small house in town.
Unable to have children of their own, Phil and Rose became foster parents for about thirty children until finally adopting the four who survive him: LeRoy Earl, Richard Daniel, Corinne Ellen (Jones) and Benjamin Lee Gruner. He also leaves several grandchildren.
Also surviving him are ten nieces and nephews and their many descendants with whom he has maintained close contact through the years. He will be sorely missed, for he was the beloved patriarch of the Gruner family, and the last of his era.
