Grace I. Wittwer, a resident of Olivia, formerly of Little Falls, died Sept. 19, 2008, at the Golden Living Center in Olivia. Funeral services were held Wednesday at First United Church in Little Falls.

Grace was born Aug. 5, 1916, in Morgan, to the late A. Meade and Flora Belle Battershell. The family moved to Hector when Grace was very young. She attended the Hector school district for her first three years. Her family then moved to Bird Island, where her father ran a grocery store. Grace joined the Bird Island Methodist Church at 14. She worked in the family grocery store until she graduated from Bird Island High School in 1934. She spent the summer after graduation with her married sister, Mary, in Pittsburgh, Pa. After one summer in Pittsburgh, she knew she would always be a Minnesota girl at heart.

Grace I. Battershell was united in marriage to Wallace L. Wittwer Oct. 17, 1939, in a civil ceremony in Minneapolis. They spent their wedding night with Herman and Vera Hamers and didn't tell them they had just married because they were afraid that Herman and Vera might play a trick on them, like putting horsehair in the bed, which would make you itch like crazy. When asked why they went to Wally's sister house for the wedding night, Wally just smiled and said "I only had two bucks in my pocket and couldn't afford to go anywhere else." Soon after, the couple purchased a piece of property in Green Prairie Township, north of Little Falls and across the road from Wally's parents. They fixed the property up and started selling eggs at the local markets. From their friends, Irvin and Ruth Radloff of Hector, they acquired some lambs and raised sheep. In between times, Wallace started to do some cement contracting while Grace worked at the Little Falls Red Owl Grocery Store. In the early 1950s, the couple moved into Little Falls and started Wittwer Construction Company. Grace became a bookkeeper for their company. In 1955 they took in their niece Kathy, who had contracted polio in 1949 and had difficulty getting to and from country school. She ended up living with Wally and Grace for the next 11 years and became the daughter they never had. Everyday of the week for that first year, Grace tutored and studied with Kathy until she had caught up to her classmates. Kathy graduated from Little Falls High School in 1966 and from college in 1970. Kathy stated "I know in my heart I am the person I am today because of this women's strength, guidance and love."

After 25 years, working together, growing the Wittwer Construction Company, Grace and Wally semi-retired in 1976 and began wintering in St. Petersburg, Fla. They enjoyed their trips, except Wally complained about having to haul all 87 of Grace's African violets back and forth every year. Grace loved vegetable, fruit, flowering gardening and just working outdoors. In the fall, Grace and Wally along with many of their friends, would pack up their travel trailers and go to Montana deer hunting, Northern Minnesota grouse hunting and pheasant hunting near Hector. Grace's favorite month of the year was October. Oh, how she would have loved the last two weeks of Minnesota weather. Grace also enjoyed sewing, crocheting and reading. She was a lifelong member of the Methodist Church and taught Sunday School in Bird Island and Little Falls.

Grace I. Wittwer is survived by a special niece who was like a daughter to her, Kathy Hamers of Bloomington; sister-in-law Juanita Battershell of Knoxville, Tenn.; brother and sister-in-law Glen and Elsie Wittwer of Brainerd; sister-in-law DeLores Wittwer of Bird Island; brother-in-law Frank Hankes of Little Falls; and many nieces, nephews and friends.

Grace was preceded in death by her parents; husband Wallace Wittwer April 28, 1986; brothers Russell, Hensel and Ernest Battershell; sisters Almeda Singer and Mary Reckley.