Mildred Hach Grimes (1922-2006)

GRIMES, HACH, KIESEL, ISAACSON, BARR, DEGNER, FORSBERG

Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 8/23/2006 at 21:44:49

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Wednesday, August 23, 2006.

Mildred Hach Grimes
Dec. 25, 1922-Aug. 14, 2006
Mildred Hach Grimes, 83, died Monday, Aug. 14, on her home farm. A memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 26, at the Grimes Farm and Conservation Center with Iowa Rep. Mark Smith and Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Director Mark Akelson presiding. Although public seating will be available, friends are encouraged to bring a lawn chair in keeping with the theme of the services. A box lunch will be served following the service.

Mildred was born Dec. 25, 1922, in rural Clutier to Charley J. Hach and Sophia Dora Kiesel Hach. After graduating from Green Mountain High School, she earned a bachelor's degree in music and a master's degree in library science from Iowa State Teachers College, now University of Northern Iowa. She taught music and library science in the public schools for 18 years.

On Oct. 24, 1944, she married Leonard LeRoy Grimes, who survives her, as do their four children: Martha Grimes Isaacson, of Ames, Roger M. Grimes, of Chicago, Carrie Grimes Barr, of Marshalltown, and L. Kyle Grimes, of Birmingham, Ala.; 11 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

She served in many organizations over the years, including Iowa State University Extension Advisory Council, Iowa Association of County Conservation Boards, Iowa Humanities Board, Marshall County Conservation Board, Marshall Soil Conservation District, Central Iowa Art Association, Nominating Commission for the 2nd Judicial District (appointed by the governor), Marshall County Historical Society, Iowa Woodland Owners Association, Iowa Tree Farm System, and Marshalltown Medical and Surgical Center Board of Trustees. She received many awards including YWCA "Women of Achievement" in 1982, Soroptimist Club 1st Annual "Women Helping Women" in 1983, Carrie Chapman Catt honorary brick, and together with her husband, Iowa Woodland Owner of the Year in 1982, Iowa Tree Farmer of the Year in 1985 and a Marshalltown "Lifetime Award" in 2003.

She was active in many other ways, including hosting foreign exchange students from Austria, Sweden and Finland, serving as a 4-H leader, hosting approximately 500 school children each year on the family farm for outdoor conservation classroom activities and directing the Central Christian Church choir for 10 years.

These are to be sure, remarkable accomplishments, but perhaps the most impressive of all is the exemplary use to which Mildred and her husband Leonard have put the family farm just west of Marshalltown. Shortly after moving to the farm in the early 1960s, the Grimes began setting aside a few acres here and there for tree planting. The idea was not to produce lumber or Christmas trees for harvest; rather, it was to begin to replace some of Iowa's native forest lands, lands that have for more than a century been cleared for agriculture. The tree planting has continued to the present day (more than 200,000 trees to date) and now after countless hours of planting and weeding, mowing and pruning, Grimes' farm has become a model of effective and responsible land use. In yet another act of community-spirited generosity, Mildred and Leonard have given a farm to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation for use by Marshall County as a conservation park and nature center, thus ensuring that its woodlands will be preserved and made available to the community at large.

Mildred Grimes has made a lasting contribution to the communities of Central Iowa; her record of public service and generosity amply demonstrate the value that comes from the steady, energetic and selfless pursuit of one's ideals. As her biography for the Carrie Chapman Catt "Plaza of Heroines" at Iowa State University concludes: "We are all fortunate to live in a world that has been so tangibly enriched by her wisdom and her care."

She is survived by one brother, Ralph Hach, and one sister, Helen Hach Degner.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Charley and Sophia Hach; two sisters Nona Forsberg and Irene Hach; and one brother, Clifford Hach.

Memorials may be directed to the Mildred Grimes Memorial, in care of Marshall County Conservation Board Trust, 2349 233rd St., Marshalltown, IA 50158.

The Pursel-Davis Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of arrangements.

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