Mattie Lee Grace

Mattie L. Grace, of Phoenix, passed away on January 5, 2014 at age 85. She was born Mattie L. Mansfield and grew up a Kentucky farm girl with a large loving family. During the Great Depression, she began working as a live-in maid at the tender age of 8 years to help support her parents and siblings who lived at home. From there, she spent the war years on her own, working in a clothing factory, to support her family. After the war, in 1953, she met her future husband, Clyde Grace. They fell in love and married in Illinois. They shared a sad Great Depression story: the loss of their childhoods and teenage years, with fear, uncertainty and great loneliness. Clyde - after leaving home before the age of 6 - also started working at the age of 8. He worked as a farm hand for simple room and board until he joined the U.S. Navy at 17. For the rest of her life, Mattie tirelessly strived to create an ideal home environment to heal their tragic childhood. She succeeded.

Mattie raised their two children while her husband continued his 22-year naval career, which left the family alone for over a year at a time when he was on Naval tour duties aboard. Mattie strongly believed in serving others. She gave selflessly to her immediate family - devoted to her children's music education, and to her and Clyde's extended families. She attended to needy church members and the neighborhood elderly - caring and cooking meals for them daily. She is survived by her son, Greg; daughter-in-law, Prof. Caroline Grace; her granddaughter, Cassandra Hawkins; and by her brothers, Ted and Brutus Mansfield. There will be a private, closed-casket Chapel Service on Thursday January 16, 2014, starting at 12:30 p.m., at Shadow Mountain Mortuary, 2350 E. Greenway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85022. Following the funeral service, she will be laid to rest with her late husband at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona. Arrangements are under the direction of Shadow Mountain Mortuary, Phoenix, AZ.