Grace S. Cottle, 99, passed away surrounded by family and friends at the Fairhaven Retirement Community in Whitewater on Dec. 26, 2014.
Grace is survived by two sons: Charles Cottle, Janesville, and James Cottle, Burbank, CA, Grandson: Charles R. (Maria Antonia) Cottle, Glenview, Ill., Daughter-in-law: Clotilde Cottle, Glenview, Ill., and three nieces: Mary Martha, Carol, and Susan. She is also survived by her dear little friends, Fox Bauer and Jonathan Kestol, who gave her much joy in the last four years of her life.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Charles R. Cottle, her son Jerry Hinton Cottle, a sister Martha Kendrick, and a brother David Sims.
Grace Cottle, the first of three children, was born to David and Elma Sims Oct. 12, 1915 in Monroe, Ga. The family moved to South Carolina when Grace was in the third grade and she graduated from Aiken High School in 1932. After business school she worked for Agricultural Adjustment Administration in Aiken for six years. She was working for an insurance company in Augusta, Ga., when she married Charles Cottle who was in the Army Air Force. He was transferred to Atlanta and Grace worked in the Headquarters of Atlanta Army Air Base. After the war Charles took a job with Boys Clubs of America in Columbus, Georgia where her first child, Charles, was born. After a year, Grace’s husband decided to return to college at the University of Georgia in Athens. Upon his graduation, they moved to Milledgeville, Ga., where her second son, Jim, was born in 1950.
Pursuing her husband Charles’ education and profession they lived in Mississippi and Tennessee where their third son, Jerry, was born in 1954.
While living in Nashville, Grace did secretarial and accounting for the Methodist Board of Evangelism and The Methodist Board of Education. The next move was to Iowa in 1960 where Charles was employed as a psychologist at the state prison and Grace was employed as secretary to the principal of the senior high school. Tragically, in 1963, Jerry at 8 1/2 was killed in a playground accident. After her husband’s death in 1970, with both sons in college, Grace continued to live and work at the high school for three more years until her father’s death when she returned to South Carolina to live with her mother. When her mother entered a nursing home in 1980 Grace came to live in Whitewater and moved into the Fairhaven Retirement Community in 1984, where she added life to her years for the next thirty years.
Grace was always active in her church and community. She volunteered her time to numerous activities, especially after her retirement in 1973. She tutored children in reading, delivered meals on wheels, raised money for and donated her time to a variety of charity organizations.
A memorial service will be conducted at the Fairhaven Retirement Community in the Fellowship Hall on Jan. 3. A visitation is scheduled for 2 p.m. The service will be at 3 p.m., and the reception will be at 4 p.m. in the Oasis Room at Fairhaven.
In lieu of flowers Grace’s family requests that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
The Nitardy Funeral Home, Whitewater is assisting the family.
