Gritli Marie (Flury) Granstedt

Gritli was born June 20, 1929 to Arnold and Martha Flury in Los Angeles, CA. Siblings Elise and Arnold followed. She graduated from George Washington High School in 1947. Her father was determined that she should be a secretary; she was determined to be a nurse. Gritli graduated from the San Diego County Nursing School in 1950. She met Raymond Granstedt on a blind date while she was in school. It must have gone reasonably well because they were married on August 20,1950. Son Robert was born exactly 9 months later. Daughter Marta 18 mos after that. Gritli stayed home to raise the kids, but always kept up her nursing skills, substituting at several local doctor’s offices when needed. Once the kids were self sufficient, she went back to work full time. She served as Asst. Director of Nurses at Lemon Grove Convalescent Hospital and retired in 1980 as Director of Nurses at Madison Convalescent.

Faith, family and friends were always the most important things in life. Gritli was an active member of Lemon Grove Lutheran Church – serving for many years on the Church Council and in the women’s group, teaching Sunday School (Superintendent for 30 yrs.), and singing in the choir. As frequent president of the women’s group she was instrumental in their participation with the Lutheran World Relief outreach programs involving Green Stamp collections, clothing drives, quilting, and baby layettes. She was still attending services with Ray until Covid hit. She served on the board of the local American Cancer society, another organization dear to her heart, after losing her mother to breast cancer. With the death of her parents she became deeply committed to the care of her brother Arnold. When the Home of Guiding Hands opened in 1961 she recognized an opportunity for his care, social growth and sense of belonging that she could not provide. Arnold blossomed in that environment, surrounded by friends and remaining always a part of our family. When his health forced him into bed at the Lemon Grove Convalescent Hospital, she visited him nearly daily and remained faithfully in charge of his finances and care for years until his end. Additionally, she was very active in the Guild supporting the Home of Guiding Hands and in the yearly fund raising Gala for the Home. Family time was filled with dinners, excursions, games, museums, camping and fellowship. Gritli kept in contact with a long list of extended family in Europe, visiting family there whenever possible. Gritli and Ray traveled extensively. The children would discover at the last minute – or after the fact – that they were off on another adventure. GPS tracking was not available at that time, but it would have been handy.

Gritli was preceeded in death by her two siblings, Elise Wahlquist and Arnold Flury. She is survived by husband Raymond Granstedt; son Robert Granstedt and wife Christine; daughter Marta Granstedt-Volkmann and husband Jon, 4 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren.

No service is scheduled at this time. There will be a viewing on Saturday August 29 from 12-4 at Conrad Lemon Grove Mortuary. Masks are required and only 10 people at a time are allowed in the room. If you would like to make a donation, the following are some of Gritli’s favorite charities:

San Diego Rescue Mission https://www.sdrescue.org/

Special Olympics https://www.sosc.org/sandiego

Lemon Grove Lutheran Church http://lemongrovelutheran.org/

San Diego Humane Society https://www.sdhumane.org/

Home of Guiding Hands www.guidinghands.org/