IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Emma Grace
Cortez
October 5, 1919 – April 14, 2010
Obituary
Emma Grace Usher Cortez passed away on April 14th at her home at Pine Hills Retirement Home.
She was born Oct. 5, 1919 on a farm near Thayer, Kansas, the daughter of Mont and Myrtle Usher.
She attended grade and high school in Morehead, Kansas. She later attended Parsons Junior College, Parsons, Kansas and she graduated with a B.S. in Elementary Education from Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota. Grace participated in academic and sports activities.
Her first year of teaching was in an eight month country school north of Morehead, Kansas.
On April 24, 1939 she married her high school sweetheart, Frank Cortez and they lived in Wyoming for 65 years. Grace was secretary at the Greybull, Wyoming grade school for two years and then started teaching 4th grade at Basin, Wyoming. Eleven years later she began teaching 4th grade in Greybull, Wyoming and taught there until her retirement in 1977. Grace loved teaching and in 1954 she was selected as one of the outstanding teachers in America.
Grace liked to cook, travel and to read. Next to her family, her love was teaching. She has written several books for her daughters and she loved to write poetry and work crosswords. She was well known for her homemade noodles and her pie making.
Grace is survived by her husband, Frank of 67 years and by her three daughters, Frances (Jim) Stokes of Hot Springs, Eloise Kaneshiro (William Ing), Hilo, Hawaii, and Anita (Jonathan) Holden of Manhattan, Kansas. Five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren also survive. She was preceded in death by her parents and her only sister, Eileen Usher Dooling of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A celebration of Grace's life will be at a later date.
Memorials may be sent to Compassionate Care Hospice, 602 Mt. Rushmore Road, Suite #2, Custer, South Dakota 57730 or Pine Hills Employee Fund, 2711 HW 18 W, Hot Springs, South Dakota, 57747 or a memorial of your choice.
Arrangements have been placed in the care of McColley's Chapel of the Hills in Hot Springs. Written condolences can be made to www.mccolleyschapels.com.
She was born Oct. 5, 1919 on a farm near Thayer, Kansas, the daughter of Mont and Myrtle Usher.
She attended grade and high school in Morehead, Kansas. She later attended Parsons Junior College, Parsons, Kansas and she graduated with a B.S. in Elementary Education from Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota. Grace participated in academic and sports activities.
Her first year of teaching was in an eight month country school north of Morehead, Kansas.
On April 24, 1939 she married her high school sweetheart, Frank Cortez and they lived in Wyoming for 65 years. Grace was secretary at the Greybull, Wyoming grade school for two years and then started teaching 4th grade at Basin, Wyoming. Eleven years later she began teaching 4th grade in Greybull, Wyoming and taught there until her retirement in 1977. Grace loved teaching and in 1954 she was selected as one of the outstanding teachers in America.
Grace liked to cook, travel and to read. Next to her family, her love was teaching. She has written several books for her daughters and she loved to write poetry and work crosswords. She was well known for her homemade noodles and her pie making.
Grace is survived by her husband, Frank of 67 years and by her three daughters, Frances (Jim) Stokes of Hot Springs, Eloise Kaneshiro (William Ing), Hilo, Hawaii, and Anita (Jonathan) Holden of Manhattan, Kansas. Five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren also survive. She was preceded in death by her parents and her only sister, Eileen Usher Dooling of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A celebration of Grace's life will be at a later date.
Memorials may be sent to Compassionate Care Hospice, 602 Mt. Rushmore Road, Suite #2, Custer, South Dakota 57730 or Pine Hills Employee Fund, 2711 HW 18 W, Hot Springs, South Dakota, 57747 or a memorial of your choice.
Arrangements have been placed in the care of McColley's Chapel of the Hills in Hot Springs. Written condolences can be made to www.mccolleyschapels.com.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Emma Grace Cortez, please visit our flower store.
Emma Grace Cortez's Guestbook
Visits: 0
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors