“‘Drive!’” Peter Andrew “Andy” Groseta, caked in a fresh coat of mud, shouted to Mary Beth Meyers during the winter of 1978.
“Andy and his folks invited me to come for Christmas and he wanted to take me to see the lights at the Prescott Courthouse,” said Mary Beth Groseta, the wife of longtime Verde Valley rancher Andy Groseta, who died from pancreatic cancer on July 22 at age 74.
“He decided to go on the Cherry Road, which runs through Forest Service [land] and you come out over on the [State Route] 69 and we get to the bottom of this hill,” Mary Beth said. “It was a dammed up area, and here’s a cow out in the middle, stuck in the mud. So Andy gets out of the pickup and ropes her and then hooks it up to the back of the pickup.
“I’m a ranch girl out of Montana, so I happily hit the gas.”
Getting dirty to get the job done was Andy’s way of life, a trait he demonstrated on that muddy date, the same year he began selling ranches in Arizona.
“He’d see a need, and he’d either encourage somebody to meet it, or he’d jump in himself,” Mary Beth said. “If you’re going to say something and stand for something, then let’s be part of it. That’s how he always worked. He wasn’t somebody who just joined a group; he was always very active in everything he did.”
Mary Beth came to Arizona the previous year from her hometown of St. Ignatius, Mt., seeking a warm winter alongside a friend. She found work in Tucson, taking a job in the library at Amphitheater High School.
“Thankfully [Mary Beth] never returned to Montana,” Andy Groseta’s obituary read.
Sept. 27, 1950 — July 22, 2025
Verde Valley-Raised
Since 1922 the Groseta family has operated the Dart W Ranch after Pete Groseta Sr. left the mines of Jerome to raise livestock and crops in Middle Verde.
Andy Groseta was born Sept. 27, 1950, in Cottonwood. He went to Clemenceau Elementary and graduated in 1968 from Mingus Union High School, when it was still in Jerome, and earned a Bachelor of Science and later a master’s degree in agricultural education from the University of Arizona. He taught agriculture at Amphitheater High School from 1972 to 1980 before managing ranches for Western Farm Management.
In Tucson, Andy “took care of a horse boarding place that belonged to friends of my family” where her friend planned to board her horse. Since the horse’s arrival was delayed, Mary Beth frequently stopped by to update Andy on its status. After a month of back and forth Andy eventually asked her out — but after two weeks of not setting a date Mary Beth took the initiative.
“I was so enthralled when I met him,” Mary Beth said. “Mrs. Boyd, the librarian at [Amphitheater High School], told me all about him and what a good guy he was. I felt very blessed to be married to such a good man, and he reciprocated. I couldn’t pursue my career as a school librarian [when we relocated here] because they only had aides. … But when I was 53, Andy supported me completely when I wanted to start a quilt store. He was always supportive like that.”
Mary Beth and Andy wed May 10, 1980, and had three children, Paul, Katy and Anna “before moving back to the ranch in Cottonwood in 1986. Together they raised kids and cattle and built a life they were proud of,” his obituary reads.
Ranching & Real Estate
In 1983, Andy became a partner in Headquarters West, making a career as a ranch real estate broker.
“He loved the U of A, and he was on the [Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching] group … they traveled back to Washington, D.C., to lobby for their land-grant colleges,” Mary Beth said. “Everything else follows that — his different awards came because of the ranch and being a cowboy. He’d saddle up, get our son, get out on the ranch, and they’d come back all beat. But I tell you, they were relaxed and happy. The saddest thing was when he couldn’t ride anymore. During the illness, he said several times, ‘Oh, if I could just get on a horse.’”
Among Andy’s awards are his 2017 induction into the Arizona Farming & Ranching Hall of Fame, an honorary doctorate from the U of A for his agricultural education and leadership, Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association Cattleman of the Year award.
“I have known Andy for nearly 20 years and have had the opportunity to see his tireless efforts to serve the agriculture industry firsthand,” Arizona Farm Bureau CEO Philip Bashaw wrote in a blog post. “Most recently, I had the honor of working alongside him to advocate for the University of Arizona College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences, and I have never met anyone with more passion and determination to protect and improve the college. His efforts will benefit the college and the ag industry for generations to come.”
Public Service
Along with leadership roles as a former president of ACGA in 2011, succeeding Steve Brophy, Andy was chairman of the Tempe-based Catholic Community Foundation and an elected member of the Mingus Union High School District Governing Board from 2003 to 2011. He continued to work on school issues, urging consolidation of the MUHSD and Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District in 2020.
“When he became president of the National Cattlemen’s Association [in 2008], he always said, ‘I can’t believe we’re just a small ranch — how could I be president of this national organization?’” Mary Beth said citing that as among his proudest and hardest achievements considering he spent 220 days on the road that year.
“[Andy] traveled a lot, but U of A basketball was his favorite hobby. We had season tickets for years — we still do — and either I, good friends, or the kids would go to the games with him. … He also enjoyed agricultural events, like stock shows or rodeos. But you know what? He was all about work,” Mary Beth said.
That work ethic is generational as both sets of Andy’s grandparents Peter and Antonia Groseta Sr. and George and Anna Maglich immigrated to the Verde Valley from Croatia.
“Whether stomping grapes for homemade wine or taking turns with cousins to rotate the lamb over a spit he cherished those childhood memories with large Croatian family gatherings,” Andy’s obituary reads. “Every night before bed he would say ‘Laku noć’ [meaning] ‘good night in Croatian’ to his kids and grandchildren,” of which there are 11: Jacob, Dylan, Grace, Peter, Brandy, H.B., Katherine, Richard, Basilio, Andy and Perry.
Andy purchased the ranch from his parents in 2000 and the Groseta family was honored by the Arizona Farm Bureau in 2023 when the Dart W Ranch was recognized as a Century Ranch.
“Andy was a really private person. In a lot of ways. … he might not have told you every detail about his life, but he was always honest and above board,” Mary Beth said. “When you met him, what you saw is what you got.”
The Groseta family asks in lieu of flowers that people donate to the Catholic Community Foundation Immaculate Conception Endowment Fund at ccfphx.org.
