Aunt Gracie Remembered

GRACE EILEEN COLBERG HALLSTED HOFFMANN
June 17 1922~September 7, 2008

This picture is of my Aunt when she was 26 years old

Age 86 Taken in June 2008

This is Aunt Grace just a few month ago. She is still just as beautiful and happy as she ever was. She passed away from Alzheimer's Disease but she remained, at peace and grateful and gracious all of her days. She was a blessing to all and she counted her own blessings daily...one by one. She told Chuck that that, along with her love of Jesus Christ and her family was her secret to a happy life. I talked to her about a month ago and she was a delightful, loving Aunt. She will be missed so dearly and never forgotten.

Near the final resting place of our sweet Aunt

Friday morning we had a private burial in Mount Hope Cemetery, in College Place, Washington. This was the most beautiful, crisp morning and everyone said Aunt Grace would have called it 'glorious.' The cemetery is very small and well-kept and the descriptive words that keep filling my mind are extremely peace-filled and full of lush, green grass and shady trees.

Mount Hope
Our Dad was buried in the Garden of Hope
in the Oakmont Cemetery, Lafayette, CA
They have many gardens like Faith, Peace,
Etc. but he got Hope also.
Ours is family of Hope!

This is looking to the east of Aunt Grace's burial spot and under the second birch tree in the foreground is where our grandmother, Alice Grace Godfrey Colberg Yeasley is buried.   Aunt Grace is buried right next her second husband, Carl Hallsted, who passed away in 1976 and the father of her five six children.   Their graves are to the west of our Gramma Colberg Yeasley and nearer the tiny road. The last time Jim and I were here was when she was buried in June of 1969.

I wish he and our kids and grandkids and Steve and Gary's families could have been here today. I know they all wanted to be. It was wonderful to be able to visit our Grandmother's grave again. Her little great-grandson, Caleb Brown, scattered the rose petals on her grave. Aunt Grace looked just like her mom and they were so much alike!

Grandma's Grave
Alice Grace Godfrey Colberg Yeasley

Just before the graveside service. 
 It was very bittersweet.

Each family member was given rose from
 Judy and Ray's garden to

place on her casket and many tears were
 left there too.

She was deeply loved by us all.


Obituary

"Mrs. Hoffmann was born June 17, 1922, in Linton, North Dakota, to Philip and Alice Grace Godfrey Colberg. She attended elementary school and graduated from high school in Bismarck, North Dakota. During her high school years, she loved dancing, skating, playing in band, hiking, swimming, and cheerleading. She attended the University of North Dakota in Fargo for one year, studying home economics. In 1946, she and Carl Hallsted married in Reno, Nevada. They moved with their five children to the College Place area from Salem, Oregon in 1958. She had worked as a bookkeeper and Director of Student Accounts and Labor for seven years at Walla Walla University and as Patient Business Manager at Walla Walla General Hospital for eleven years. Mr. Carl Hallsted died in 1976.

On April 11, 1982, she and Walter Hans Hoffmann married at the Village Church in College Place. Following her marriage to Walter, they lived in Sacramento, California, Luxemburg, Germany, Redding, California and Vancouver, Washington, returning here in 2004. After retirement, she volunteered extensively including over 2000 hours for the City Clerk and Police Department, Redding Medical Center, and the Literacy Council in Redding. She was past president of the National Credit of Women of America, PTA President during her children’s school years, a delegate to the North Pacific Union Conference and General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Constituency meetings, and a member of the Village Seventh-day Adventist Church where she had served as Sabbath School superintendent and wedding coordinator. Her hobbies included oil painting, swimming, and playing the piano. However, her greatest pleasures in life revolved around her family and she really looked forward to week-long family reunions in honor of her since 1976.

She is survived by her husband at their home; two daughters: Jan Hallsted of College Place and Judy Hall of Milton-Freewater, Oregon; three sons: Chuck Hallsted also of College Place, David Hallsted of Woodland, Washington, and Jake Hallsted of Katy, Texas; thirteen grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren, one niece and two nephews. She was preceded in death by a brother, Ross Colberg."