July 17, 2025

Grace L. Hartz

Grace L. (Borchert) Hartz, 80, of Newton died on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2013, at the Nelson Manor Nursing Home in Newton.

A funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 1900 N. Fourth Ave. E. in Newton. Burial will be at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, at the St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery in Lacona.

The family will greet friends from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the Wallace Family Funeral Home in Newton.

Memorials to Our Savior Lutheran Church or to Skiff Hospice may be left at the funeral home or the church the morning of the service. Memorials may also be mailed to the funeral home, please add, Attn: Hartz Family on the envelope.

Grace, the daughter of Frederick and Florence (Willis) Borchert was born July 2, 1933 in Melcher-Dallas, Iowa. On Feb. 3, 1952, she was united in marriage with Virgil G. Hartz in Lacona, Iowa. They made their home in Newton for 61 years.

Grace worked many years for the Newton Community School District in the lunch program. She had also worked for the Newton Daily News, and the Maytag Company. She was a member of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Newton; and a founding member of the Willowbrook Adult Day Care Center in Newton. Grace loved being a grandma and great-grandma. She also enjoyed baking, cooking, and traveling.

Those left to honor Grace’s memory are her husband, Virgil of Newton; children, David (Denise) Hartz of Arlington, Ohio, Rick (Gail) Hartz of Newton, and Cathy (Kerry) VanGundy of Panora; her eight grandchildren, Justin, Eric, Melissa, Rhonda, Ryan, Rob, Mike, and Craig; 14 great-grandchildren, and her siblings, Gloria DeWitt of Chariton, Edgar Borchert of Lacona, Ilene Borchert of Des Moines, Larry Borchert of Indianola, and Joan Breese of Knoxville.

She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers, Leland, Paul, Glen, Marvin, and Henry; and sisters, Myrtle Smith, Leora Havard, and Audrey Hartz.