Obituary of Elizabeth E. Grindley

Elizabeth (Betty) Eileen McDonald Grindley, age 85, died peacefully October 26, 2021 in Iowa City after a long battle with breast cancer and Alzheimer’s. Betty will be buried in Saints Joseph and Mary Catholic Church Sugar Creek Cemetery in Clinton County, next to her parents, Elizabeth Lawlor McDonald and Thomas J. McDonald. She was born November 12, 1935 on the family farm in Preston, Iowa. She attended Mount St. Clare in Clinton and graduated from Goose Lake High school. Betty married James D. Grindley of Kansas City, Missouri on February 14, 1963 and raised their children in Grandview, Missouri. She is survived by her three children: daughters Debra Grindley of Bellingham, Washington and Carol Grindley of San Francisco, California; and son Erick Grindley of Paola, Kansas. She also leaves a sister, Theresa McDonald (sp.John Mayo) of Iowa City, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren as well as a nephew Greg Schmidt of DeWitt, Iowa. Betty was a devoted mother. She was a warm-hearted, talkative person who often entertained the family with humorous stories, especially of life growing up on the farm. She was a skilled seamstress and baker. She enjoyed playing the piano, singing, bike-riding and taking long walks with her children. Later in life, she became an avid non-fiction book reader. Proceeding her in death are her sister Mary McDonald Schmidt and son Francis Overheiser by a previous marriage. No formal memorial service will be held.