Whitham, Grace Elizabeth 1914-2004

WHITHAM, MCGREW, KEPFORD, RAMSEY

Posted By: Debbie Nash (email)
Date: 3/22/2004 at 16:51:22

Grace Elizabeth Whitham
March 22, 2004

Grace Elizabeth Whitham, 89, of 1956 Gear Ave., Fairfield, died at 10:18 p.m. Sunday, March 21, 2004, at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Raymond Funeral Home, with the Rev. Mike Metz officiating. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery.

The family will receive friends from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

Memorials have been established to Jefferson County 4-H Foundation.

Miss Whitham was born May 24, 1914, west of Fairfield, the daughter of Roy Rollo and Bertha May McGrew Whitham.

A lifetime resident of Jefferson County, she lived most of her life in the same neighborhood. She graduated from Center No. 8 rural school in 1927, graduated from Fairfield High School in 1931 and received her bachelor of art degree in education from Parsons College in 1946. She also took advanced classes from Northern Iowa University, University of Iowa and Truman State University, plus night courses from Parsons College, after getting her degree.

An elementary teacher, Miss Whitham taught six years in the rural schools of Jefferson County and 2 1/2 years at Packwood Consolidated School in Packwood. In 1944, she began teaching for the Fairfield Community School District. She taught 38 years at Lincoln Elementary School and one year at Roosevelt Elementary School. Her teaching career totaled 47 1/2 years. She retired in 1984.

Miss Whitham was a member of First United Methodist Church and the church Guild.

She was a lifetime member of Iowa State Education Association and the National Education Association. She also was a member of Chapter E, TTT for 33 years and NU Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma.

Survivors include two brothers, Frank and Charles Whitham, both of Fairfield; and one sister, Lucille M. Kepford of Des Moines.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers, Roll Roy Whitham and Theodore Whitham; two sisters, Mae Ramsey and Hazel B. Whitham.

Courtesy of the Fairfield Daily Ledger Inc. 2004