Gracemarie Phillips

Gracemarie (Mitchell) Phillips, age 94, longtime resident of Grandville, passed away peacefully into the arms of her loving Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, August 3,2025 at Rose Garden in Grandville, Michigan. She leaves a legacy of memories that are treasured by her family and all who knew her.

Gracemarie was born to Jincks and Martha (Franklin) Mitchell March 22, 1931, in Grandville. She and her younger brother, Robert, grew up on a farm on Kenowa until she was ten. She then moved alongside the railroad tracks on 52nd Street in Wyoming, Michigan. Her mother taught her to read at an early age, so when Gracemarie started school when she was five, she skipped kindergarten and started in first grade; she was the youngest in her graduating high school class. She graduated top in her class from Wyoming Park High School in 1948. She met the love of her life, Robert (Bob) Phillips, in chemistry class as a sophomore. They were married October 28, 1950 in Byron Center, Michigan. Her younger sister, Lillian, was her flower girl. The honeymoon to Mammoth Cave created an everlasting memory.

Bob and Grace initially bought a small home on Buchanan in Wyoming. They moved from Wyoming to a newly built home on Ivanrest in Grandville in 1955, about two blocks from where Gracemarie was born. They lived there for over 69 years. There she raised her four children who all graduated from Grandville High School.

In 1953, Bob and Grace purchased a cottage on Barlow Lake in Yankee Springs Township with Grace’s parents and brother. They became sole owners of the cottage in 1965. Although most of the family members spent time at the cottage in the summer, Grace liked being there in the spring and fall when it was quiet and peaceful.

Gracemarie worked as a secretary at Frost Pack after graduating from high school. She was a stay-at-home mom from the time her oldest child was born until her youngest was going to school full days. At that time, she became the school secretary at Grandville East Elementary School where all four of her children attended. In 1993, she retired after 26 years in that position. Her organizational and typing skills were phenomenal. Every year one of her favorite tasks was compiling and producing the recipes from the new kindergarten class as a cookbook. Everywhere Grace would go in Grandville she would be greeted by, “Hello, Mrs. Phillips!” from the former students and she would beam because she was able to recall them by name.

Gracemarie was very active in the community and in her children’s activities and lives. She served as a room mother, room mother chairman, Cub Scout den mother, Bluebird and Camp Fire Girl leader and PTA chairman. She also taught Sunday school for years. She positively impacted the lives of hundreds of children.

Grace was a voracious reader; she loved Christian historically based novels and stories. She also loved crafts and being a participant in craft shows with family. She made many distinctively beautifully decorated sweatshirts and t-shirts. In the last few years, she spent her days crocheting afghans. She proudly recorded each one with as many as 70 completed in a year. She gifted these treasures of love to her family and friends.

Gracemarie loved being the family matriarch and spending time with her family. She maintained a list of all her descendants that she always kept with her. She was delighted that there are 92 names on the list with birthdates and other key dates of her children, their spouses, her grandchildren, their spouses, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. Her family was her pride and joy. She loved spending time with each and every member and delighted in their lives. She also traveled with her children and grandchildren to Wales, Florida, Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Indiana, and Massachusetts, to name a few places. After retiring, Grace relished the opportunity of spending time with her grandchildren, sometimes providing daycare for them and great-grandchildren as well. Labor Day fish fries at the cottage were also a favorite time for her. She also organized and led the Phillips (Bob’s) family annual reunion for decades. Let’s also not forget the annual Christmas get-togethers she organized and led for her own family, which extended to her sister, Lillian her husband, Ray, and their family.

Grace was not only very organized, she also was not afraid of technology. She received her first personal computer in 1990 at the age of 59. She quickly learned to word process and prepare spreadsheets. Even at 93, she was still an avid solitaire player using her laptop. She kept up the family finances and compiled taxes with Bob. She had a monthly expenditure and investment journal initially handwritten and later by spreadsheet. She used email and Facebook and many other applications. She knew where every penny was spent. She knew what every major item she and Bob ever purchased cost and when it was bought and she had her records to prove it. She also maintained a daily written journal which was invaluable to her in her late years as a supplement for her memory.

Upon retirement, Gracemarie and Bob spent the next 25 years from January through March at their trailer in a campground/trailer park at Winter Garden, Florida. Grace loved the warm weather and many friends they made there; Grace and Bob enjoyed riding bikes and playing cards and having potluck suppers with neighbors. She especially enjoyed the outdoor chapel services and Bible studies at the campground. Grace and Bob also met weekly with their lifelong best friends, Betty and Joe Mucha, while wintering in Florida.

Grace was an excellent shopper and her freezer was always loaded with the bounty from the garden in Grandville - growing strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, grapes, and more. Grace and Bob harvested, canned, and froze much, but most was shared with family, friends, and neighbors. In fact, Gracemarie was known for her coveted frozen strawberry jam and signature zucchini pickles. She also prepared ready-to-cook apple pies and froze them; these were often house gifts when she came to visit. Grace was also an active member of the Standale Garden Club for many years.

Grace and Bob were longtime members of South Wyoming United Methodist Church; Gracemarie began attending there in 1942. She taught Sunday school and was president of the United Methodist Women’s Club there for many years. Grace created and copied the weekly bulletin until she was 80 years old. She was a member of a close-knit group there that made up the church’s “kitchen band” that traveled and played for local nursing homes as a ministry. Bob and Grace were close friends of the Muchas, Coles, and Nedrys from the church; they would take annual week-long road trips to locations like Branson, Missouri and other interesting locations. Grace and Bob also hosted the group annually at the cottage.

Bob and Grace also attended Bowens Mill Chapel in the summers while spending time at the cottage. They attended Grandville United Methodist Church in recent years. Grace loved her Lord and Savior, Jesus. She left a typed memo of her personal testimony and her faith as a memorial for her family.

Gracemarie was preceded in death by her husband of 74 years, Robert “Bob” Phillips, who passed away last December; parents Jincks and Martha (Franklin) Mitchell; brother, Robert (Pat) Mitchell; and sister, Lillian (Raymond) Young. Gracemarie is survived by her children and their spouses: John (Lindy) Phillips of Clarkston, Michigan, Bonnie (Joe) Kohane of Whitestown, Indiana, Patti (Rick) Boom of Grandville, Michigan, and Penny (Brian) Zokoe of Hudsonville, Michigan; brothers-in-law Duane Phillips of Caledonia, Michigan and Doug Stauffer of Wyoming, Michigan; and sister-in-law, Phyllis Rahn of Jenison, Michigan; 20 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Gracemarie will be deeply missed by her family, friends, and neighbors. It is difficult to put into so few words the many ways she impacted so many people and just how much she will be missed.

According to Gracemarie’s wishes, cremation has taken place through Cook Funeral Home.

Celebration of Gracemarie’s life will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, August 16, 2025 at Grandville United Methodist Church, 3140 Wilson Ave. SW, Grandville, Michigan 49418. The family has requested that many of her family and friends who received afghans bring their favorites to show at this celebration.

The family welcomes memories and messages and also viewing of an unabridged version of Gracemarie’s life’s highlights and obituary at www.cookcaresgrandville.com online.

What My Faith Means to Me

By Gracemarie Phillips

Our faith, my faith, is one of the most important, seemingly invisible, shall we say, emotions, that we have. I decided to look in the dictionary to see what it said about faith. I looked in my old 1971 edition which said, “allegiance to duty or a person; loyalty; belief and trust in God; and confidence.” Hebrews Chapter 11 has a lot to say on faith. Where does this faith in God come from, and when does it begin? I am sure that Guidepost magazine would not care for my story of faith, and my children have heard it in bits and pieces over the years.

It all began when I was around six or seven years old when a neighbor couple would take my brother and I to Maple Hill Church. (We lived at the end of 64th Street on our farm, at the corner of Kenowa and Ransom.) I do not remember attending church before that time. One Sunday, I told my mother that a lady was rolling on the floor of the church when I was there, and she decided that I need not go with the neighbors there anymore. That was the beginning of a change in my life as my mother began taking my brother and I to the Hanley Chapel, and I found the book of John. (I read anything I could get my hands on, and in the late 30’s, that was not much.) I still love “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” My poor brother (who did mostly what I want him to do) would listen to me preach from a tree stump from the book of John. That’s probably why he moved to California.

Anyway, it was the beginning of my faith walk. This chapel had pamphlets on their missionaries to Africa, and I loved to read them and decided that I would become a missionary to Africa. That changed a few years later when my family attended an evening church service where a friend of my father attended. (This was one of the two times that I remember ever attending a regular church service with my father. I was told by my mother that social gatherings bothered him.) This service was conducted by a woman, and they said that she was a minister. She so moved me that I decided that was what I would be someday.

As I was preparing this dissertation and had turned the computer off, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to mention one of the most influential persons in my faith walk, my maternal great-grandfather. I did not see him very often as we never lived near any of our relatives, but when I would visit my maternal grandparents, and he would come to visit, he was treated with such love, respect, and reverence. There was no bad language, and prayer was given at mealtime, and I wanted what made him the person he was – faith in our God.

So how did I get from there to here? We moved from the farm to 52nd Street and only continued to attend the Hanley Chapel a very short time because this was during gas rationing. It was Sadie Engstrom who took up the slack in my faith walk. My mother really did not want me to attend here, but I felt a real need to be in a church home, so when Sadie, Mrs. Van Dyke at that time, asked me to go with them, I was delighted. In fact, we brought Sadie to church several times after she was no longer able to drive, and she would always be so grateful. I would remind her that I was only doing for her what she had done for me – being a stepping stone in faith.

I did have another goal in my faith walk, that someday, if I had a family, that we would all worship together, and it did happen. We even set a fold-up chair for John at the end of the row of seats because there were six of us. We never told our children that they had to go to church; we just got up on Sunday morning and went. One time Bonnie said, “Why do I have to go to church; God is with me all the time, and I thought, “What a testimony!” Now she spends almost as much time in church as she does at home. So, she did understand the need to strengthen faith and others in church. It would be much easier to talk about the faith of our children than my own faith – they strengthen my faith as do all of you and all of my other faith friends.

What does my faith really mean to me? Absolutely everything. It is God’s love. It helps me to love and be loved, forgive and be forgiven, and understand even those who are difficult to love and understand. Most of all, it is always there to comfort when needed, and it means hope when hope seems impossible. We sometimes feel that our faith is very personal, but if those neighbors years ago or Sadie and others had not shared their faith with me, would I really be here today? I am very thankful to all those who were and those who continue to be the stepping stones in my faith walk. I need a constant reminder that what I do I cannot do alone because I truly believe that FAITH IN GOD LIGHTS THE FLAME OF LOVE in each of us.