Grace B. Gould

Grace Burkhardt Gould, 88, of Carmel, IN was born on October 3, 1932, and passed away on July 28, 2021. Grace was born at home on a small farm in SE Nebraska. When she was 10, she and five siblings were removed from their impoverished home and sent to the Nebraska Children’s Home in Omaha where she remained for two and a half years until she was adopted by Dr. Allen and Gertrude Burkhardt. She grew up in Norfolk, Nebraska where her adopted father was Superintendent of Schools and President of the Junior College. She graduated with honors from Norfolk High School in 1950 and attended the University of Nebraska from which she graduated in 1954 with a BS in education. At Nebraska she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. After graduation, Grace, a sorority sister and her brother who was a Marine officer traveled from Nebraska to Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, CA, where she met her future husband Gerald “Jerry” Gould also a Marine officer, who was soon departing for Asia. She returned to Omaha where she taught kindergarten. In the spring of 1955, in the culmination of that whirlwind romance, she and Jerry, who had just returned from Korea, were married in The First Methodist Church in Norfolk and remained so for over 66 years. After four months her husband completed his active duty and they moved north to the area south of San Francisco while Jerry completed his graduate work at Stanford. Their first child, Michael was born in the spring of ’56. In the fall Grace returned to teaching kindergarten in San Carlos, California. Their daughter, Dana Lynn, was born in December of 1957. She was a special needs young lady, and Grace’s educational training was very important to their daughter’s development.

The family remained in California until 1962 when they were transferred to New Jersey and fourteen months later to Indiana where they have remained for most of their years. A third child, Marston, was born in Indianapolis in 1965.

Grace was a consummate homemaker who loved decorating, cooking and baking, gardening and needlepoint. She also enjoyed playing bridge and loved most sports, especially football. She transferred her allegiance from the Bears to the Colts when they came to Indianapolis and became a “second” mother to a Colt who was a next-door neighbor. Of course, she followed the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Most of all she relished playing tennis which she didn’t start until she was in her forties. Grace was a PEO for over sixty-seven years, a member of Tri-kappa, and of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church until her infirmities prevented her attendance. The couple traveled extensively nationally and internationally including several trips to Switzerland, England and the rest of Western Europe.

In 1982, with the passing of the Freedom of Information Act, Grace found and was united with her six siblings at a family reunion held in SE Nebraska. Her two older sisters, and four brothers were together for the first time in more than forty years. It was then that she discovered that there was a genetic propensity to glaucoma in the family. She was stricken some years later and it changed her life. She experienced almost thirty eye operations, through the years, but still lost most of her vision over time.

She was devoted to her adopted parents, and they could not have been closer had she been their natural daughter. As they aged, she traveled regularly to Nebraska to see to their needs and their care.

Grace was preceded in death by their daughter Dana Lynn, her adopted parents, her siblings Irene Welling, Jim Steele, John Hills, and Jack Wright. She is survived by her husband, Jerry, sons, Michael Gould (Andrea) of Westfield, IN and their children, Troy Gould (Karla) of Calgary Alberta, Amicha Duarte (Ewerton) of Clarksville, TN and Amanda Gould, Jacksonville, FL and Troy’s children, great grandchildren Liam and Madison, as well as son Marston Gould (Dina) of Seattle, WA, and children Sadie and Seamus. Also surviving is brother, Richard Steele (Jan) of Bellingham, WA and sister, Laura Shuck, Sturgis, SD.

A private funeral will be held at Leppert Mortuary- Nora Chapel, Indianapolis, Indiana with interment at Our Lady of Peace Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana. Bequests may be made to Bethesda Lutheran Communities in Watertown, WI, 600 Hoffman Drive, Watertown, WI, 53094 (https://bethesdalc.org/ ), St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN, 38105 ( https://www.stjude.org/ ), or the Dr. Allen and Gertrude Burkhardt Scholarship Fund at Northeast Community College, 801 E. Benjamin Ave., Norfolk, Nebraska 68701 (https://northeast.edu/giving/donate).

To share a memory or online condolence, please visit our website at www.leppertmortuary.com.