Wheaton College fire victim loved learning

Mark Groesch had found happiness at Wheaton College.

"He loved school," his mother Lu Ann Groesch said. "He loved learning, and this was the happiest he had ever been."

The 28-year-old Springfield native was studying for a master's degree in theology at the college after quitting optometry school and giving up a fledgling career as a stockbroker.

"He was so tenderhearted," his mother said. "It hurt him to see people losing their finances."

Groesch's mother said he was planning to use the theology degree to teach at the collegiate level himself.

Groesch succumbed to smoke inhalation Saturday from a fire Wheaton Fire Department officials believe started in his apartment unit on the 1700 block of East 22nd Street in Wheaton. The cause remains under investigation, said Deputy Chief Bill Schultz.

Wheaton College announced Groesch's death on the college's Web site Sunday.

The DuPage County coroner's office has still not officially identified Groesch's remains and are awaiting confirmation with medical records. But officials said they released the body to the family as a courtesy because the parents were able to identify significant physical features that matched that of their son.

A memorial service was held Wednesday in Springfield.

Groesch's circuitous path to Wheaton College didn't worry Groesch's parents. Their son had been diagnosed with a bone disease at age 4 that required several surgeries and stunted his growth. But it didn't stunt his spirit and determination, his mother said.

"Mark was an adventure," she said. "He was so bright that we kind of just went with the waves with Mark."

His surgeries kept him from attending high school for a year and a half, but he still finished tenth in his class, his mother recalled.

"He could do anything," she said. "He taught his friends how to wakeboard even though he couldn't get in the water."

His Eagle Scout project involved planting trees at a new library in nearby Chatham, but his mother remembers him organizing a number of volunteers to help with the project, standing in the middle of the chaos wearing a hard hat and directing everyone on how to fulfill their tasks.

"He was so well-loved," she said. "This community is hurting."

Though it appears Groesch succumbed to the fumes of the fire while sleeping and likely suffered little, his mother said it's been hard for her to accept the loss.

"I understand it in my head, but I haven't been able to in my heart," she said.

She said the family's faith is helping them all cope with the loss of her son.

"It really struck me when his little nephew Levi, who's turning 4 soon, said when I told him Uncle Marky died, he said, 'That's OK grandma, he's in heaven now,'" she said. "That's true. He's no longer with us, but he's in the hands of God."

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<li><a href="/story/?id=352359">Wheaton fire victim identified as college student <span class="date">[01/20/10]</span></a></li>

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