When LeRoy Collins and his wife, Mary Call Darby Collins, acquired the property in 1941, it was in a tremendous state of disrepair. Mrs. Collins was a great granddaughter of Richard Keith Call, and her family connections to The Grove played a pivotal role in the Fords deciding to sell them the property for less than market value. At this time, Collins was a promising young lawyer and politician who was a member of the Florida State Legislature. Their restoration work came to a halt in the early 1940s, as Collins stepped down from his legislative seat to enlist in the Navy during World War II, rising to the rank of Lt. J.G. Although the Collins family left during that time, The Grove was far from abandoned. Evidence from the war years suggests that servicemen drawn into Tallahassee by Dale Mabry Field congregated at The Grove. In subsequent renovations of the historic cistern, the dog tags of a Lt. Joseph Azat, a pilot who died during World War II, were recovered and later returned to his family.