Grace E. Lovell, 94, of Griswold, IA, died Friday evening, January 14, 2011, at the Griswold Care Center in Griswold.

Grace Evelyn Munson was born at Red Oak, IA, on November 23, 1916, the daughter of Albert and Lillian (Geist) Munson. She attended schools at Red Oak and graduated in 1933. She started working as a nanny at the age of 14 for the Cecil Dutton family. They had 4 sons and they kept in touch with Grace all of her life. She also worked for the Thomas D. Murphy calendar factory. In 1935, she married Gail C. Lovell at Red Oak and to this union were born 4 children, Max, Marilyn, Mike and Marvin. They lived at Strand, IA, and then moved west of Griswold and farmed in several places until moving to their farm on M-47 in 1953 where she lived until entering the Griswold Care Center in August of 2006. Grace was office manager for the Griswold Coop Telephone Company from 1952 until 1969 when she retired after the death of her youngest son Marvin when he was 21. She then endured the loss of Max at age 52 and her daughter Marilyn at 65 as well as her husband Gail in 1993.She was a member of the Griswold United Methodist Church and active in the United Methodist Women until recent years. Grace enjoyed keeping her grandkids, loved working outside on the farm when she was able. Her home was filled with love and laughter and the best fried chicken ever.

Her parents, her husband, her sons, and her daughter, her daughter-in-law Delores Lovell, her son-in-law Darrell Both, her brother Francis Munson and her sister Edna Jenkins preceded Grace in death.

Survivors include her son Mike and his wife Susan of Griswold; her 7 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren: Tom Lovell of Sterling, CO, and his former wife Jena and their children Trey, Tanner and Tori of Atlantic; Gina Lantry and children Wyatt and Paige of Omaha; Rob Lovell of Ft. Myers, FL; Dr. Mark (Jodie) Lovell and children Rachel and Drew of Bel Air, MD; Kim (John) Morrison of Deerfield, WI - and their married children, Nathan (Noelle) Morrison and their baby Libbie Grace of Charlotte, NC, Rebekah (Eric) Gudgel and baby Audrey of Bentonville, AR - and their unmarried children at home, Emily, Kathryn, Sam, Ben and Suzannah; Debbie (Mark) Kennedy and their children Craig, Kyle, Sarah and Hannah of Lake City, MN; and Craig (Amy) Both and their married son Brian (Andrea) Both and their children Ezra and Arlo all of Kansas City, KS.

Memorial services will be held at the Griswold United Methodist Church on Saturday, January 22, 2011, at 2:00 PM, Pastor Dwight Grosvenor officiating. Burial of ashes will take place in the Evergreen Cemetery at Red Oak at a later date. The Duhn Funeral Home in Griswold is assisting the family with their arrangements.