Carroll G. Granger

Carroll (Grange) Gene Granger, age 77, shed his earthly body and entered into God's eternal care on February 22, 2021. He was the loving husband of Connie Jean Granger. Together they shared 53 years of marriage. In addition to his wife Connie, Carroll is survived by his daughter Aimee (Granger) Radulski, her husband Walter Radulski, their children Anna, Charlotte and Walter; his son Brian Granger, his wife Annie Granger, their children Elana And Brody: his son J.D. Granger, his wife Ashley Granger, and their daughter Elle. He is also survived by his sisters Cindy Zinn, husband Michael Zinn, and Sandy Little and husband Stephen Little. Grange was preceded in death by Connie and Grange’s infant son Christian.

Carroll was born in Pikesville, MD on March 23, 1943, and was the son of Ethline (Wege) and William Granger. After his family moved to the Hanover area, Grange attended both Penn St. and High St. Elementary Schools. Grange was baptized and has been a lifelong member of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church. During high school, Grange was involved in the Boy Scouts, football, basketball, and marching band. During his summers he also spent time attending and working as a camp counselor at Camp Nawakwa Lutheran Church Camp. He graduated from Hanover High School in 1961. After graduation, Grange worked for Black and Decker and attended night classes through Shippensburg State College. He also joined the Lancers Drum and Bugle Corps. The following year Grange became a full-time student.  While attending Shippensburg, he was a member of the soccer team. Grange earned his Bachelor’s Degree in elementary education in 1965. Grange met his wife Connie in the Fall of 1966 and they were married the following November. After college, he began working for the Hanover Borough, and in 1973 he began running the “Morning League” baseball program. He spent the first few years of his career teaching and coaching at both West York and Hanover Junior High and in 1972 was hired as a 6th-grade teacher at Emory H. Markle Intermediate school and as the varsity boys basketball coach at South Western High School. Grange quickly turned around a struggling program and coached the program’s only league championship team to a YCIAA title in 1977. Also during his employment with the district, he coached both girls and boys tennis leading his teams to five league titles during the ’90s. Grange ended his professional career after 36 years, retiring from teaching in 2002 though he didn’t hang up his whistle. Grange helped the tennis program transition for a brief time and continued running the “Morning League” baseball/softball program until 2016 when he retired after forty-three years.  Finally, Grange was considered the “Voice of the Mustangs” as the pa announcer at the Mustang Corrall for many years!

He was a lifelong member of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Grange has shown witness to his faith in every possible way. He served as a Sunday school teacher, lector, and usher.  He served on several call committees for new pastors through the years, the church council, and the mutual ministry committee. Grange was a regular member of the music program, singing in the St. Matthews Men’s Choir, Hanover Community Singers, and regularly performing solos for weekly worship. He also spent time as a member of the acapella singing group “The Prodigal Sons”. In retirement, he helped out with the PAL Lunch and Meals on Wheels programs, helped count and organize offering collections for the office, and helped those in need complete their taxes. Grange has always been a devout Christian and used his faith and Christian fellowship to ground his relationships and lifelong endeavors.  

In retirement, Grange enjoyed time with his wife, Connie, his children, grandchildren, and their friends and relatives. He worked out daily, played golf regularly with the  “Bandits,” and continued his life of service through many volunteer opportunities through his church and the community. Grange was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2009. Though his initial treatment was difficult, he fought his battle with cancer courageously and enjoyed several years of happiness with minimal hassle.  With his faith and iron will to live, laugh, and love, Grange far outlived his prognosis. Only over the last year did his cancer diminish his quality of life, yet, like he would have played and coached his players to perform, he refused to give up. In a come from behind fashion, he pushed his last days into overtime, his last minutes to a tie-break, and left it all on the court.

To Carroll Granger family was everything. It is rare to hear or read the name “Grange” without “Connie” alongside it. He loved being the husband of Connie and it would be difficult to imagine his life without her.  She helped him become the man he was to those he meant so much to. Outside of school and sports, Grange became a role model in large part because of who he was as a husband and father. The marriage of Connie and Grange is looked on by all with admiration and reverence. In the early years of Grange’s career, the Granger home was a center of love, laughter, and comfort. Their reputation as a couple to look up to and seek support from grew as their own family grew through the years. In the late ’70s and early ‘80s, their home was regularly visited by high school students and recent graduates to play basketball, seek advice or just laugh a little. The relationships that they forged with those who were a part of their lives, continued on into adulthood and for a lifetime. Their marriage and the relationships they built around it, were not admired because they were perfect, but because of what and how they endured during the most difficult times along the way. Grange’s impact as a person and their impact as a couple will continue to endure as their stories continue to be shared.

Grange will forever be remembered as a devoted husband, father, coach, and teacher. He will continue to serve as an excellent example and role model in all aspects. In the words of many who have reached out about his final days and passing, Grange was kind, gentle, always smiling, supportive, encouraging, motivating, caring, and an outstanding human, full of integrity and humility. Carroll Granger has provided us with the very best example of toughness, love, faith, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. He and his wife Connie have shown us how to overcome great obstacles and trauma, build a better life than what they were provided, create a family that continues to endure, and how to love unconditionally. He will be greatly missed, never forgotten and his legacy will endure.

To honor and remember the life of the late Carroll “Grange” Granger, a “Celebration of Life” service will be held 11 AM, Saturday, October 2, 2021, at St. Matthews Lutheran Church, with Rev. Dr. Kathy Vitalis Hoffman and Rev. Faye C. Snyder officiating.  The family will receive friends immediately following the service at a luncheon in the church fellowship hall.

To honor his memory and continue his legacy of service to others, we are establishing The Carroll G Granger Community Foundation.  Details will be available at the October 2nd service and on social media.

The Kenworthy Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc. 269 Frederick Street, Hanover, PA is assisting the family with funeral arrangements.