Grace Forgrave

Grace Forgrave, 98, was born July 10, 1923, in Rudyard, Mich., to Robert and Edith Ann (Sprague) Forgrave, the youngest of 11 children.  

Grace graduated from Rudyard High School in 1941 and attended Michigan State University the next year. She wanted to help with the war effort, so she worked for a year as a Rosie the Riveter in Detroit on the leading edge of the Sikorsky fighter planes. She went back to Michigan State in 1944 and graduated in 1947. Grace became a Christian in 1938 and the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship group at MSU encouraged her spiritually. She taught 3^rd and 4^th grade at Rudyard from 1947-1949. She became interested in mission work and worked at the Navajo Gospel Mission in Flagstaff, Ariz., from 1949-53. She decided she needed more missionary training and attended Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada, for three years. While there she made connections to work in Peru with the Regions Beyond Missionary Union. To earn money to go to the mission field, she taught 4^th grade at Cedarville 1956-57 and went to Peru in 1957 to work with the Quechua Indians after attending a summer institute of linguistics at the University of North Dakota. She worked as a missionary in San Martin, Peru, for 32 years, coming home occasionally on furlough. She wrote entertaining letters home from the mission field and her friend Faye Hansen published periodic prayer letters, which were eventually published in a book, “Grace Notes,” compiled by Jan Reed in 2014. She retired from mission work and returned to Rudyard. She lived in her home with help from many volunteers until her passing on Oct. 28, 2021, at the age of 98.

Grace was preceded in death by four sisters: Janet Way, Stella LaPonsie, Ruth Teak and Ruby Mockeridge and by six brothers: Russel, Ralph, Steward, Harold, Douglas and Tom Forgrave.  

A funeral service will be held at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, November 3, 2021, at Rudyard Bible Church with Pastor Nate Beery and Pastor Rod Case co-officiating.  Friends may call at the church from 1:00 PM until the time of the service.  Burial will be at North Rudyard Cemetery. 

Donations in her memory can be made to any of the local churches who supported her through the years: Rudyard Bible Church, Stalwart Presbyterian Church, Donaldson Presbyterian Church or the First Union Church in Cedarville.   

For Facebook live viewing of Grace’s funeral service: 
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