Inara L. Mcgroarty

Inara L. McGroarty went on to glory Monday, January 17, 2022.

Inara was born Inara Laima Liventals December 4, 1942 in Riga, Latvia to Reverend Valters and Austra Liventals. In 1944, they escaped the Communist takeover of Latvia and traveled to Germany where they remained until they received sponsorship to immigrate to the United States in 1951. She proudly became a US citizen and remained politically active all her life. She had a deep love for her homeland and her adopted country.

Inara was passionate about education, earning her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Business and Finance. She adored reading, spending hours reading in the sunshine, to her children, then to her grandchildren, and founding and participating in multiple book clubs. One special group has been meeting for over 40 years, since the members were young mothers. She also loved to read the Word in her church of over 40 years, St. Mark Lutheran. Inara did not just read, she proclaimed every syllable.

Inara blended her aptitude for numbers and love of education by spending her career in schools and libraries, culminating in the perfect position for her as a political advocate for Northern Illinois Libraries. Her daughter, Laura, once complained that the hand rail at her local library was too high when she took her preschooler to story hour and, lo and behold, a smaller handrail appeared a foot beneath the original a few months later. Inara made things happen.

She also loved music, movies, and theatre, a passion that was planted by her parents and cultivated in her children. Inara is sweetly celebrated and painfully missed (for now) by her children: Colin McGroarty, Brian McGroarty, Cameron (Mekenna) McGroarty, and Laura (Phil) Nothnagel, as well as her dear sister, Daina (John) Gillies, her nieces Katherine Stokes and Jennifer Marine, and her treasured, (spoiled) grandchildren: Roland, Cameron, Harrison, Frances, Gillian, Ryan, Faith, Noah, and Finn.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, January 25 at 11:00 am at St Mark Lutheran Church, 675 N. Mulford Road, Rockford, Il, followed by a service at 12:00 pm. Those staying for the service are requested to sing out, as Inara never did this quietly.

“Surely goodness and mercy has followed her all her days and she will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.”

Arrangements entrusted to Fitzgerald Funeral Home & Crematory, 1860 S. Mulford Rd. Rockford, IL 61108. Share online memories and condolences at www.fitzgeraldfh.com