Grace Hedstrom

Grace Hedstrom, 95, of Iowa Falls, passed away on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at the Hansen Family Hospital. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. on Thursday, April 10, 2025 at the First United Methodist Church in Iowa Falls. Visitation will be from 9-11 a.m. before the service. Memorials may be directed to the First United Methodist Church Community Meals Program, 619 Main Street, Iowa Falls, Iowa, 50126. Funeral arrangements are under the guidance of the Surls Funeral Home in Iowa Falls.

Grace Nolte-Hedstrom was born March 6, 1930, in rural Howard County, the only daughter of Michael and Anna (Dusheck) Derr. She attended country school in Vernon Springs and graduated from high school in Eldora, Iowa, in 1947. She worked as a legal secretary and in the abstract and title office in Eldora for two years.

On Nov. 27, 1949, she married Merle Nolte in the United Methodist Church in Iowa Falls and they farmed for the next 40 years in Hardin and Franklin County. They became the parents of two daughters, Susan and Linda. After retiring and moving into town, Merle Nolte died in 1996. They had spent many winters in Harlingen, Texas and it was there she had met, then married Robert Hedstrom in 1999. They moved to his farmstead in Cooperstown, North Dakota and continued to winter in the same place in Texas. Following Robert’s death in 2012 she returned home to Iowa Falls to live.

Grace loved life on the farm and all its activities. She took great pride in her home and housekeeping, cooking, and baking. She was a proficient seamstress and loved to read. While spending winters in Texas she sang in the church choir and two choral groups. But most of all her special interest was gardening and the yard. All her years on the farm she maintained beautiful flower and vegetable gardens. She was a former member of the Town and Country Garden Club in North Dakota, then later the Iowa Falls-Alden Garden Club. Maintaining a connection with old friends and relatives was important and she never forgot a birthday or other occasion with a card. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church.

She is survived by her two daughters: Susan (Carl) Jacob of Charles City, Iowa, Linda (Gary) Crawford of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, one granddaughter Jennifer Jacob of Brooklyn, New York and a special stepson, Bryan Hedstrom of North Dakota. She was preceded in death by her parents, both her husbands, and her only brother, Elmer Derr.