In 1911, Grubb lost his fortune due to a bad investment and was appointed by then Governor Wilson as Superintendent of the New Jersey Home for Disabled Soldiers in Kearney, New Jersey. He died in Newark, New Jersey, and was buried in Saint Mary's Episcopal Churchyard in Burlington. Violet moved back to "Grubb Cottage", then owned by Grubb's brother. During the First World War, Violet chaired the British Emergency Aid Committee in Philadelphia and later retired to Maryland to live with her daughter.