Grover Asmus proposed to Donna Reed on a daily basis during their three-year courtship. He was surprised when she unexpectedly accepted.

Norma Connolly, Grover Asmus, and Shelley Fabares were instrumental in founding The Donna Reed Foundation in Denison, Iowa.

Donna Reed died in her Beverly Hills home on January 14, 1986 of pancreatic cancer. Her husband, Grover Asmus, was at her side.

Grover W. Asmus, husband of Donna Reed from 1974 until her death in 1986, served in the U.S. Army until 1972, attaining the rank of colonel.