Deanna Kay Grindle

Deanna Grindle, 80, of Red Oak, IA, passed away December 10, 2018 at the Accura Health Care in Stanton, IA. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 15, 2018 at the Loess Hills Funeral Home in Malvern. Burial will be in the Wesley Chapel Cemetery, rural Hastings. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Memorials: Nebraska Humane Society or Strahan United Methodist Church Deanna Kay Grindle, one of three children of Ellis G. and Ethel M. (Wright) Grindle, was born on August 5, 1938 at Strahan, Iowa. She attended Strahan Consolidated High School where she played six-on-six girls' basketball all her years of high school and graduated in 1956. After graduation, Deanna was offered a scholarship to Commercial Extension Business School where she continued her basketball career. In 1959, she won the A.A.U. (Amateur Athletic Union) free throw championship. She won the National Free Throw Championship four times. In 1963, Deanna traveled to South America with the A.A.U. girls' basketball team. She also played slow pitch softball, being on the UNO World Champion Slow Pitch girls' team. In 1973, Deanna received a...[more]

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chelor of Science Degree in Education from the University of Omaha, continuing her teaching and coaching at Benson High School in Omaha, and coached UNO girls' basketball from 1973-1976. She received her Master of Science Degree at UNO. Growing up on the farm, Deanna drove the tractor in the summer to help her dad. In Omaha, she worked as a secretary, blueprint estimator and bookkeeper as she continued to play and coach for the A.A.U. teams in Omaha. At Benson High School she taught computers, accounting, and typing. Deanna loved gardening, golf, camping, fishing, visiting her Minnesota cottage, listening to the loons, visiting her family and walking her faithful dog, Maggie. She was an accomplished artist and painted many pictures treasured by her family. Deanna received many trophies and awards for her basketball talents with her most prized trophy presented to her in Des Moines, Iowa, during the 1973 Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union girls' basketball tournament, when she was inducted into the Iowa Hall of Fame for girls' basketball. Deanna retired from teaching in 1996 and moved to Florida with a longtime friend, Sonia Green. She lived there several years before moving to Crossville, Tennessee. Due to health issues, Deanna returned to Iowa in 2015 to be closer to her family. Deanna passed away on December 10, 2018 in Stanton, Iowa at the age of 80 years, 4 months, and 5 days. She was preceded in death by her parents; sister Helen "Dude" Blunt and husband Robert "Bob"; and brother Kenneth "Doc" Grindle and wife Elizabeth "Libby". Deanna is survived by her nieces, Sherry Perkins of Randolph, IA, Pam Meadows of Maitland, MO, and Kathy Blackman of Red Oak; nephews, Larry Blunt of Waco, TX, Rodney Grindle of Hastings, IA, and Dennis Grindle of Omaha; as well as her friend Sonia Green of Tequesta, FL; and numerous family and friends.