Grace E. Meerdink
June 15, 1908 - November 21, 2002

GRACE MEERDINK MUSCATINE, Iowa - Grace E. Meerdink, 94, of 2224 Fareway Drive, died Thursday, November 21, 2002, at Lutheran Homes. Funeral Services will be 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Ralph J. Wittich-Riley-Freers Funeral Home. Reverend Don Swanson of the First Baptist Church will officiate. Pallbearers will be Ron McGowan, John Meerdink, David Meerdink, Dewayne Hopkins, Steve Nelson, Robbie Nelson and James Lacina. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2 to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church or the donor's choice. Mrs. Meerdink was born on June 15, 1908, in Washington, the daughter of Robinson C. and Sarah E. Wayman Varney. She has been a resident of Muscatine since 1918. Her marriage to Earl W. Meerdink on February 18, 1929, was dissolved in 1942. A 1927 graduate of Muscatine High School, she played on the Girls Basketball team that went to state in 1926. During World War II, she was personnel manager for Carver Pump Company; she then managed Park Lane Golf and Country Club for several years. Before retiring in 1983, she served as administer of the Benjamin Hershey Memorial Nursing Home for 23 years. She was a 50-year member of the First Baptist Church and also attended New Hope United Methodist Church. She served as past president of the Muscatine Women's Bowling Association, Muscatine T.B. Association, and the Pilot Club of Muscatine. She was a director on the Board of the Iowa Woman's Bowling Association and also served several terms as director for the American Lung Association of Iowa. Honors given her were placement in the Muscatine Bowling Hall of Fame and life member of W.I.B.C.; and the Brophy Award and Volunteer of the Year Award in 1984, both awards were given by the American Lung Association of Iowa. She was also a 50-year member of the Women of the Moose and also a member of the American Legion and Lady Eagles as well as a volunteer for various organizations, mainly the American Cancer Society, Salvation Army, Voluntary Action Center and the Muscatine General Hospital Auxiliary. Survivors include two sons, Warren L. "Skip" Meerdink and his wife, Mary, of Longwood, Florida, and John S. Meerdink and his wife, Louise, of Muscatine; one daughter, Barbara J. Brown of Galesburg, Illinois; 13 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren; and a brother-in-law, Ralph Meerdink of Muscatine. Three special people to her are Ronald and Dennis McGowan who made their home with her while in school and Ruth Bridges of Muscatine, for whom she had been guardian for several years. She was preceded in death by her parents, one daughter in infancy, two brothers and four sisters.

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