Obituary for Grace J. Ploetz
Grace Josephine (Warwick) (Dudley) Ploetz died 3/8/2022 of natural causes.
She was born in 1925 in Woodburn Oregon. She was the second daughter of William Guy Warwick and Edna Pearl (Hall) Warwick, both deceased. She was also preceded in death by her sister Jessie Belle, her first husband Roland Dudley and her second husband Alfred L Ploetz.
She is survived by her children: Bruce of Papillion, NE; Larry (Sonja) of Newark, CA; Kathy (Lynn) Newcomb of Papillion, NE; and Linda (David) Kronenfeld of Oro Valley, AZ. She has five surviving grandsons: Andrew (Tara), Benjamin and Garin (Emma) Newcomb, Michael and Jason Kronenfeld. She has three great-grandchildren, soon to be four. She is also survived by her nephew Bill Irwin, as well as nieces Edina Belle Irwin, Kathy Grace Irwin Sliziak, and Norvena Grace Irwin Vitet, who live in British Columbia, Canada.
She grew up on a single-family homestead in rural Oregon with her parents and sister. After graduating from high school in Woodburn, she started college at Willamette University in Oregon. After her father died in 1943, they sold the farm and moved to Portland. Her sister took advantage of the shortage of skilled labor during the war years and worked for the Bureau of Land Management, leading the family to relocate to California.
Grace finished her education at UCLA, graduating as an AB in Apparel Merchandising in 1948. The first of the family to achieve an education at a university.
She worked as a social worker and elementary school teacher. She had one child with her first husband, who died in 1953. She married her husband of 58 years, Alfred, in 1955 who also grew up on a single family farm and drove the same kind of tractor. The Fordson, famous for not starting on cold mornings. But on opposite sides of the country. Al and Grace had three more children and raised all four in the legendary Silicon Valley of Northern California.
Later in life she pursued a career in fabric sales and later retail sales, with stints of substitute teaching as well. But her main focus was caring for her family, helping her husband through his three bouts with cancer, innumerable outings with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She enjoyed travel, sewing, quilting, reading, drawing and coloring, and working in the garden. She also enjoyed fellowship in her bible study groups. She started a book club at the Senior Center called “Grace’s Book Club”.
Grace embodied the true meaning of her name in every way and brought joy to all around her in every setting.
A Memorial Service will be held March 26, 2022 at 2PM at the Thanksgiving Lutheran Church, 3702 S. 370 Plaza Bellevue, NE 68123. A link is available to watch the Memorial Service, https://boxcast.tv/view/grace-ploetz-celebration-of-life-g4vwi1dstp4pnpvhr4wv, you may also find the Service broadcast by going directly to Thanksgiving.church.
She was born in 1925 in Woodburn Oregon. She was the second daughter of William Guy Warwick and Edna Pearl (Hall) Warwick, both deceased. She was also preceded in death by her sister Jessie Belle, her first husband Roland Dudley and her second husband Alfred L Ploetz.
She is survived by her children: Bruce of Papillion, NE; Larry (Sonja) of Newark, CA; Kathy (Lynn) Newcomb of Papillion, NE; and Linda (David) Kronenfeld of Oro Valley, AZ. She has five surviving grandsons: Andrew (Tara), Benjamin and Garin (Emma) Newcomb, Michael and Jason Kronenfeld. She has three great-grandchildren, soon to be four. She is also survived by her nephew Bill Irwin, as well as nieces Edina Belle Irwin, Kathy Grace Irwin Sliziak, and Norvena Grace Irwin Vitet, who live in British Columbia, Canada.
She grew up on a single-family homestead in rural Oregon with her parents and sister. After graduating from high school in Woodburn, she started college at Willamette University in Oregon. After her father died in 1943, they sold the farm and moved to Portland. Her sister took advantage of the shortage of skilled labor during the war years and worked for the Bureau of Land Management, leading the family to relocate to California.
Grace finished her education at UCLA, graduating as an AB in Apparel Merchandising in 1948. The first of the family to achieve an education at a university.
She worked as a social worker and elementary school teacher. She had one child with her first husband, who died in 1953. She married her husband of 58 years, Alfred, in 1955 who also grew up on a single family farm and drove the same kind of tractor. The Fordson, famous for not starting on cold mornings. But on opposite sides of the country. Al and Grace had three more children and raised all four in the legendary Silicon Valley of Northern California.
Later in life she pursued a career in fabric sales and later retail sales, with stints of substitute teaching as well. But her main focus was caring for her family, helping her husband through his three bouts with cancer, innumerable outings with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She enjoyed travel, sewing, quilting, reading, drawing and coloring, and working in the garden. She also enjoyed fellowship in her bible study groups. She started a book club at the Senior Center called “Grace’s Book Club”.
Grace embodied the true meaning of her name in every way and brought joy to all around her in every setting.
A Memorial Service will be held March 26, 2022 at 2PM at the Thanksgiving Lutheran Church, 3702 S. 370 Plaza Bellevue, NE 68123. A link is available to watch the Memorial Service, https://boxcast.tv/view/grace-ploetz-celebration-of-life-g4vwi1dstp4pnpvhr4wv, you may also find the Service broadcast by going directly to Thanksgiving.church.