Grace Margaret Stern
August 24, 1910 — July 11, 2008
Grace Margaret Stern, age 97, of Fayette, Michigan was called home to the Lord on Friday, July 11, 2008. At the time of her passing she was a resident at Bayside Village in L'Anse, Michigan.
Grace was born on August 24, 1910 in Fairport, Michigan to John and Myrtle (Chaffee) Lang. She attended Fairbanks Township schools. On July 21, 1930 she was married to Harold A. Stern in Fayette. Grace and Harold lived and worked in Pontiac, Michigan for several years before returning to farm in Fayette. Aside from that sojourn in the big city, Grace was a life-long resident of the Garden Peninsula. She and Harold operated a dairy, beef and poultry farm on the Burnt Bluff for 46 years. In recent years she spent winter months with her daughter Lael in Pelkie, Michigan, returning each summer to her home on the Bluff in Fayette.
Grace loved gardening, cooking and making a loving home for her extended family including beloved parents, Gramma and Grampa Lang and Gramma Stern. Most importantly, Grace loved the Lord Jesus with all of her heart and peacefully answered his call home. She was very active in the Fayette Congregational Church serving into her 90s in many positions including many years as church treasurer. Her legendary wild berry picking expeditions and finely honed canning skills produced unique collections of jams and jellies that were perennial hits at the Lord's Acre auction. The hand-made appliquAC. quilts that she donated to the auction were also hotly contested by eager bidders. She served the United States Department of Commerce as the volunteer weather observer for the Fayette station for 25 years. Grace was an active member of the Garden Peninsula Historical Society and contributed to the Society's 1982 publication of A�Our Heritage, the 140 year historical record of the peninsula and its residents. She was an avid genealogist and traced her roots in America to 1635. She enjoyed her fellowship with the Kate's Bay Home Extension Club, served as a trustee of the Fairbanks Township School Board, was a regular election board member, and was a long-time member of the Michigan Farm Bureau. In 1985 and again in 1989 she realized a life goal of travelling to Europe to her father's birthplace and visiting with her cousins in Randers, Denmark.
Surviving Grace are her daughter Lael (Kenneth) Janson of Pelkie; granddaughters Alison Janson of Dallas, Texas, Kristen (Trent) Batchelor of Denver, Colorado, and Amy Janson of Pelkie; numerous beloved nieces and nephews; and special friend Marge Carr of Stephenson, Michigan.
Grace was preceded in death by her parents John and Myrtle (Chaffee) Lang, her husband of 58 years Harold Stern, her sister Idah St. Ours, and her brothers Henry Lang and Fred Lang.
Visitation will be held from 10:00 to 11:00 am on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at the Fayette Congregational Church located 8 miles south of Garden, Michigan on MI-183/CR-483. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 am with Pastors Dean Franz and Lon Hider officiating. Burial will be in the Sac Bay Cemetery. The Jacobson Funeral Home of L'Anse is assisting the family.