The following is a re-post of a post from Earl Perry on rec.boats.paddle.  It has been edited to remove two personal addresses and phone numbers.

Al

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Kent Grua began running the Grand in the late 60s as a skinny, brilliant improvisatory kid.  I remember him, all 135 pounds, rowing a 33 foot pontoon down the right of Hance at 4000 cfs, impaling a stranded pontoon on the rocks with his motor frame - we were all trying to learn what a river that size does with boats that size.  He grinned.  We all grinned.  We patched.

A motorman for Hatch initially, he was seduced by the grace of dories and became a main man of the Grand Canyon Dories community.  Known as the Factor (he was a factor in any situation that impinged on him), Grua was a founder and first president of the Grand Canyon River Guides, and after about 14 years, had jusr reassumed the office.  He was a mover and boatman on the rowing speed-record trip in 1983 (see Lew Steiger's story "Speed" in Christa Sadler's book, "There's This River" for a suspenseful account).  For the flavor of the man, see Lew Steiger's interview in the 'boatman's quarterly review' 11:1 (winter 97 - 98).

From Brad Dimock (author of "The Doing of the Thing" and "Sunk without a Sound"):

As most of you already know, Kenton Grua died Sunday. He had gone for a mountain bike ride in the woods near his home. A hiker found him curled up on the ground near his bike in the Schultz Creek area. His helmet was cracked, he had a few bruises, and was unresponsive. He was dead on arrival at Flagstaff Medical Center. The report from the coroner is as follows.There was apparently no head injury. There was a small tear in his aorta and a loss of about 250cc. of blood. The cause of death was myocardial infarction--heart attack.
This prompts two scenarios, the first being the more likely.

Kenton was biking on a steep trail, had a nasty wreck, hit hard. Busted his helmet and tore his aorta on impact. He got back on his bike and headed home. The tear bleed a bit, the strain of pedalling may have contributed, the tear reached the heart, triggered an arhythmia or fibrillation, and subsequent heart attack. Kenton was on the flats when he laid down, curled up on his left side, and died.

The other possibility is a spontaneous tear of the aorta--not unheard of--which is quite painful. In that case he may have tried to race for home and had the wreck due to haste, loss of consciousness, or the heart attack. We will probably never know exactly how it happened.

Michelle is home. She is relatively new to the Flagstaff area and the boating community, and can use all the support she can get. Call or stop by if you can, as often as you can. She wants to hear Kenton stories from those who knew him and loved him.

A memorial service is planned Friday or Saturday in the Flagstaff area. Another memorial is planned for the Fall Grand Canyon River Guides meeting here in Flagstaff, on November 2. Michelle asks that donations go to GCRG.