Grace Eleanor Kortum Nees
A memorial service for Grace Eleanor Kortum Nees, 92, will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 25, in the First United Methodist Church. The Rev. Claudia Blakely will conduct the service. Mrs. Nees died Wednesday, May 9, 2007, at Newman Regional Health. Cremation has taken place.
Grace Eleanor Kortum, the daughter of Bernhardt D. and Henrietta L. Witzemann Kortum, was born July 18, 1914, in Decatur, Ill. She married Ralph Edgar Nees on June 24, 1939. He survives.
She graduated from Eastern Illinois State Teachers College in Charleston, Ill., and taught at elementary schools in California and Illinois. She and her husband moved to Emporia in 1996 to be near their daughter, Margaret Nees Davidson of Emporia, who also survives.
Other survivors include two sons, Stephen E. Nees of Dove Canyon, Calif., and Paul A. Nees of Salem, Ore.; three sisters, Betty Lou Johnson of Redlands, Calif., Marian Coberly of Springfield, Ill., and Henrietta Britton of Bemidji, Minn.; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Mrs. Nees had been an avid quilter and won many “best of show” awards in competitions. She quilted numerous baby quilts for church bazaars and other organizations. She had been a member of the Emporia Regional Quilters’ Guild, the First United Methodist Church in Emporia, and the California Teachers’ Association.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the church. Those may be sent to Charter Funerals, 501 W. Sixth Ave., Emporia KS 66801.