Billie Love Hoover

Billie Love (Grooms) Hoover, age 90, passed away peacefully on June 25, 2024, in Riverside, California. Born on April 3, 1934, in Watertown, Tennessee, she was the pillar of strength for her family, especially during her husband’s 23-year Air Force career when he had to deploy to various locations, leaving her to care for seven kids alone.

Billie received an education in segregated schools in rural Tennessee, culminating in her 1952 graduation from Wilson County High School in Lebanon. She moved to Pontiac, Michigan shortly after high school where she soon met the love of her life, Herbert “Prez” Hoover. They were married for 51 years at the times of his death in 2004.

Throughout her life, Billie held various jobs in support of the family with the capstone of her vocational endeavors being her ownership and operation of a State of California-licensed childcare center from her home in Riverside for over a decade. Her work ethic was unmatched and paralleled only by her devotion to her family and community.

Billie became a member of Amos Temple CME church in 1975 after her return to California. She was deeply involved in many church activities, including her service as a stewardess, lending her voice to the choir, serving as the Sunday School nutritionist, and as a participant in the prison ministry. She was also a vital participant in the Martin Luther King J, Seniors’ Club that included organizing trips to Las Vegas and other tourist attractions. Lastly, for years, she kept score for the Professional Bowlers Association’s annual tournament in Riverside. In this capacity, she got to see the pros at their most impassioned and temperamental.

Billie’s hobbies included her fervent support for the Dodgers and the Lakers and a passion for college sports, especially USC and UCLA’s teams – imagine that. She was also an avid pinochle, bid whist, blackjack, and poker player and loved playing board games – including historical family favorites of Monopoly and Yahtzee.

Her survivors include her children, Mark Anthony Hoover, Patricia Ann Brewer, Jeffery Lynn Hoover (Ilka), and Timothy Hoover (Theresa); Sister, Paulette King; Brothers, George Edward Grooms, Michael Grooms (Kay), Eugene Grooms (Laurene), and Chris Grooms; Son-in-law, C.V. Herbin Jr., Daughter-in-laws, Carol Hoover and Stephanie Hoover; along with numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren, with a host of cousins and friends, including her homegirl since 1950, Ann Mabry.

Billie was preceded in death by her parents, George and Edna Grooms: Husband Herbert Clark Hoover; brothers, J.T, Clyde, John, Dupree, Lillard; daughter, Hervadine Hoover-Herbin; sons, Rodney & Greg Hoover; and grandchildren, Natoshia Hoover, Mark Anthony Hoover II, and Stephen Hoover.

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