Theresa Mildred Grote

Theresa Mildred Kramer, the daughter of Frank and Cecelia (Schechinger) Kramer, was born on September 2, 1928, and was the middle child of 17 children. The family lived on a farm near Defiance, IA. Theresa was baptized, had first communion, confession, and confirmation at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Defiance.

Theresa attended the Catholic school in Defiance for 12 years graduating with her class of 11 in 1946. As many other young women did, Theresa hired out to help other farmers' wives with various jobs such as childcare, gardening, canning, and other household duties. Growing up Theresa became quite talented with a needle and thread. She often told how people would come to her to get their socks darned because she could do the repair without a knot which could cause heel blisters.

Theresa was born just before the Depression so there were many years of challenges. The 1930s brought dust storms, harsh winters, and droughts. Theresa learned to quilt and sew from her mother. She also helped in the fields alongside her brothers with corn picking (by hand) and driving a team of horses. Entertainment in good weather involved a lot of baseball games with her siblings and cousins. She was quite a talented baseball player excelling at batting, catching, and running the bases. Growing up in The Depression Theresa wore hand-me-downs from her older sisters. When she had daughters, she ensured that she made something new for each one in addition to any hand-me-downs.

When Theresa was a Senior in High School in Defiance, the Panama girls' softball team invited them to come to Panama for a game. This was a big deal because they just never played games in other towns. They loaded up in a couple of cars and drove down to Panama. The parish pastor at Defiance, Father Rosman, was their coach. Six of the girls were seniors and the rest of the team were juniors. Theresa was the pitcher and had quite a number of strike outs. According to Theresa, Panama thought they were going to teach Defiance how to play ball, but Defiance won 26-6. Panama never accepted Defiance's invitation to come to their town for a re-match.

In June of 1949, Theresa met Thomas Grote at a dance (she remembered it as being in Earling, IA). On January 30, 1950, Theresa and Tom were married in St. Peter's Church in Defiance, IA. To this union twelve children were born. They lived on a farm near Dunlap, IA for the first two years and then moved to a farm near Portsmouth, IA.

Theresa was a member of St. Mary's parish, the Catholic Daughters, and the American Legion Auxiliary. Since about 1994 Theresa quilted with the Portsmouth ladies. She served for many years as an officer of the quilt group. She has passed on her know-how for quilting to the new members of the group. In addition to the quilts the ladies completed, Theresa made an untold number of quilts gifted to children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and others. She also crocheted and made other useful items on her sewing machine. She always had to be busy with something.

Life on the farm included leisure time too when neighbors, relatives, or friends would gather and play cards. As a mother of daughters, Theresa taught the girls to sew by hand and by machine or the information was passed on by older to younger. Several of her daughters carry on with quilting or other needlework crafts.

Theresa remained on the farm after Tom died in July 2005. She moved into a house in Portsmouth in May 2010. Theresa loved to travel and took opportunities to go whenever she could. She boasted that she believed she'd been to all 50 states. She had also been to 6 of the 7 continents with Africa as the only one she missed. She often said she never dreamed she would see all those places. In July of 2024, Theresa moved to Hansen House in Harlan where she lived until her passing.

Theresa died in Harlan, Iowa on March 6, 2026, having attained the age of 97 years, 6 months, and 4 days. She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Tom, one son John Paul, and all but one sibling.

She is survived by her children: Sharon (Bill) Gaul of Tucson, AZ; Mary Lou Arkfeld and fiancé Bob Gagne of Council Bluffs, IA; Joseph (Kathleen/Kitty) Grote of Meridan, KS; Julia Theulen of Harlan, IA; Ruth (Bob) Perry of Colorado Springs, CO; Donna (Chris) McGinty of Topeka, KS; Rita (Craig) McElfresh of Wailuku, HI; Robert Grote of Harlan, IA; Laura (Dan) Longacre of Orlando, FL; John Henry Grote and his husband Barry Blakeley of Oakland, CA; Lisa (John Sr.) Olsufka, of Shelby, IA; sister Mary Heese of Earling, IA and sister-in-law Marlene Kramer of Omaha, NE; brother-in-law Raphael (Margaret) Grote of Harlan, IA; sister-in-law Hilary Mae Gaul of Melbourne, FL; sister-in-law Betty Grote of Earling, IA; twenty-two grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; 7 step great-grandchildren; 1 great-great grandchild; other relatives and friends.