Born on June 5, 1919 in Leal, North Dakota, Annabel Augusta Grover was the daughter of Amanda and Adolph Grover. She died on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, 2017.
She graduated from Hannaford High School in 1937 and went on to attend Jamestown Commercial College to acquire office management skills. After graduation she worked for the County Extension Agent and then the General Accounting Office in Fargo. In February of 1941, after taking the Civil Service Exam, she left North Dakota for Washington D.C. There she worked for the Navy Nurse Corps, the Bureau of Ships, and finally Special Branch at the Pentagon. In 1944, she left the U.S. on her birthday, arrived in England on D-Day, and was attached to the American Embassy.
She ultimately moved to Bletchley Park where the code breakers deciphered Nazi messages sent out through the Enigma Machine, and funneled decoded messages to their proper recipients. At the conclusion of World War II she went to Germany as a secretary to one of the Chief Prosecutors of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Upon returning to the U.S. she worked briefly for the C.I.A. before meeting and marrying the love her of life, Joseph Bell Stover in 1947 where they were happily married for over 50 years.
While raising two children, she did volunteer work for the Alexandria Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, Gunston Hall, and for 25 years was a greeter at INOVA Mount Vernon Hospital. She was an active member of Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church. She is survived by her two children, Margaret Ann Smith and Joseph McNair Stover, two granddaughters Amanda Thomas Henegar and Kelly Ann Smith, and five great grandchildren, Willow, Abigail, Zachary, Emily and Tyler.