Obituaries

Memorial service will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday, August 9, 2014 at the First Presbyterian Church in Sibley, with Reverend Terry Simm officiating.  The Grote family will be handling the service.

Elizabeth Mary Grote was born November 14, 1915, in Ellsworth, MN.  The first of 15 children to Frank and Gertrude Meester, she grew up in Ellsworth and attended school there.  She married and lived near Ellsworth and then near Little Rock, IA, until she moved to Sibley in 1966 having retired from farming.  Elizabeth worked at the Sibley Post Office until 1981 and loved her job.

She was a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church, taught Sunday school and Bible School, was a 4-H leader, and belonged to the Women’s Club in Little Rock and to Church Circle groups.  Elizabeth loved traveling and took many bus trips throughout the U.S.  She bowled for over 50 years until 2005.  She loved sewing, quilting, crocheting, and flower gardening.  She moved to Arizona to live with her daughter in 2009, and then moved back to Sibley in 2013.

Elizabeth is survived by her daughter, Rebecca Stefaniak , Glendale, AZ; 7 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; 5 great-great grandchildren; sisters Margaret Odenbrett (Jim) of Adrian, MN and Connie Wendt of Petersburg, TN; brothers Gordon Meester (Elaine) of Ivanhoe, MN, Dennis Meester (Barbara) of Bradenton, FL, and Gary Meester (Judy), Sioux Falls, SD; daughter-in-law, Shirlene Grote of Sibley, IA; and many nieces and nephews.

 She is preceded in death by her parents, husband Henry Grote, her sons Franklin and Lawrence (Bud), sisters Gertrude Williams, Doris Kramer, Katherine Flynn, Delaine Gronewold, and Joanne Meester, brothers Jacob Meester, Henry Meester, Frank Meester, and Burdell Meester.