Grace Louise Crouch (Brandner)

GRACE LOUISE CROUCH 95, of Oakland, Oregon passed away April 26, 2014 at her home. She was born in Fountain, Colorado in 1919. Grace was the third of four children, all of whom are now deceased. She graduated from Kansas State University. Being a native Kansan, she loved basketball and played on the Wichita County High School team. Grace enlisted in the United States Army during WW II and served as a dietician on Saipan and at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado and at a hospital in Buffalo, New York. When the war ended she returned home and married Harold Crouch. Together they came to Oregon and started married life on a farm along Calapooia Creek. They were members of the Community Presbyterian Church in Oakland for 67 years. Grace was actively involved in the county home extension group and as a 4-H leader. Other involvements include Community Concert Association, Calapooia Ladies Club and Sutherlin Food Pantry. Some of the local people that hauled hay and sheared sheep at the farm are sure to remember her lunches during hay and shearing seasons. Grace raised a huge garden and canned literally hundreds of quarts of vegetables and fruits annually. She was a skilled seamstress, knitter, crotchetier, and an amateur painter. The neighbor children, her children and grandchildren all loved her dearly. Survivors include her children; Martin Crouch (Eddy), Kathleen Pedersen (Keith), Glen Crouch (Sharnie) and Annette Harper (Randy); 12 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. Grace was preceded in death by her husband Harold L. Crouch and her sister Emma Marie Gray here in Douglas County. The family wishes to thank her companions and caregivers who took such good care of her and Harold. They enriched her life in so many ways. Memorial services will be held Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 2:00 pm at Oakland Community Presbyterian Church.