Erika Phylene Caldwell Groves passed from this life on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, surrounded by family.

Erika was born March 28, 1975, in El Dorado Springs, Missouri. The third daughter of Cecil and Phyllis Caldwell, she completed the genetic trifecta with her red hair and green eyes. From a young age Erika loved animals, farm life, family, friends, and baking. You could often find her with a baby animal, loving it, and nursing it. After graduating from Walker High School in 1993, Erika attended Southwest Missouri State University. She then pursued her love for children by becoming a nanny and moving to Brick, New Jersey.  She nannied with other families, living in St Louis, MO, Boulder, CO, and Scottsdale, AZ. Her love for animals led her back to Colorado to attend veterinary technician school at Bel-Rae Vet Tech College, becoming a Certified Veterinary Technician.

During her internship Erika met Mike Groves and they married on May 25, 2002. Together they had two sons, Coy and Cade and built the life Erika had always dreamed of. She loved her husband, her boys, her family, her friends, and her community and she spent countless hours cooking meals and goodies for family, friends, crews, school events, and just to bring people joy. Erika was generous, often giving thoughtful gifts because you had been on her mind. She was so proud of her family and the life they lived.

Erika fought a good fight against a cancer that would not yield. While she fought, she surrounded herself with friends and family and took care of everyone until the very end.

Erika is survived by her husband, Mike Groves and two sons, Coy and Cade Groves, all of a Weldona, CO, her parents, Cecil and Phyllis (Berry) Caldwell of Walker, MO; two sisters, Karla Findley (husband Scott) of Batavia, IL and Shana Wiggins of Raymore, MO; a brother-in-law, Pat Groves of Orchard, CO and a sister-in-law, DebraAnn Ferguson of Fort Morgan, CO, countless nieces and nephews, great nieces, great nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She is preceded in death by a brother, Gregory Caldwell; her in-laws, Jess and Alyce (Davis) Groves; a sister-in-law, Joy Groves; two brothers-in-law, Gary Alan Groves and Rich Ferguson; and two nephews, Kurtis Groves and Dustin Ferguson.

Our deepest thanks to everyone for the support, love, prayers, food, and generosity this past year. A special thank you to Nikki Baessler.

Services to celebrate Erika's life will be Saturday, July 11th at 10:30AM in the Weldon Valley School Gymnasium, 911 N. Ave., Weldona, CO 80653.

For those unable to attend, you can click the link below to join the livestream of the service.

https://view.oneroomstreaming.com/index.php?data=MTc4MzY5NjA3NzQyMTQzOCZvbmVyb29tLWFkbWluJmNvcHlfbGluaw==