Grayce Marilyn Rawls

Grayce Marilyn (Kuehl) Rawls, the eldest daughter of 4 girls born to Marlow and Mary (Johnson) Kuehl, was born in Mountain Lake, Minnesota, on October 1, 1935, and went to meet her Heavenly Father on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016.

Grayce’s parents were tenant farmers so she received her early education at various rural schools in Minnesota. She started high school in Elk River, Minnesota before the family moved to Mesa in 1950. Here she attended Mesa High School, graduating in 1953. Her family attended the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mesa and it was there that she met, and in 1954, married the love of her life, Lawrence Rawls.

Grayce worked for Mesa Public Schools beginning in 1953. She worked in the Mesa High School office until she and Lawrence started their family in 1955. After her children started school, she went back to work for Mesa Public Schools, working in Student Records until 1988.

Grayce’s passions included gardening, bird watching, cooking, reading, and especially spending time with her family. She was a sport’s fan who loved cheering on the Diamondbacks. Grayce also loved to travel and each year would find some new place to experience, here and abroad, before her health finally slowed her down.

Grayce faced many challenges in her life, having to deal with a fractured skull and traumatic brain injury from a car accident in 1983, breast cancer in 1985, and leukemia which started in 1991 and continued until the time of her death. Through all her challenges, she never lost her faith in her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She fought these battles courageously until she could fight no more.

Those grateful for sharing her life and left to cherish her memory are her husband Lawrence; daughter Pam Deemer and her husband Mark, son Larry Rawls and his fiancé Laura Steffey, all of Mesa; her 3 sisters and their spouses Margy and Ronald Clement of Scottsdale, Lois Schaffer of Tempe, and Dody and David Cory of Gilbert. She is also survived by brother-in-laws Henry Rawls and his wife Bobbie, Walter Rawls and his wife Sharron, and sister-in-law Marilyn Moser Rawls. Also left to mourn her loss are her many dearly loved nieces, nephews, cherished friends and neighbors.

Grayce was preceded in death by her parents, her in-laws Walter & Hilda Rawls, sister-in-law Marilyn Rawls Wood and brother-in-law Dr. William E. Rawls.

Graveside services will be held on Monday, April 4th, at 9:30 a.m. at Green Acres Cemetery, 401 N Hayden Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85257, followed by a Celebration of Life service at 10:30 a.m. in the chapel at Green Acres Cemetery. Services will be conducted by Pastors Roger Ball and Jed Morrison of the First Baptist Church of Tempe.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Grayce’s name to Samaritan’s Purse, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607.