Mary Martha Grassel, 92, died at 5:55 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, April 20, 2019, in St. Petersburg, FL, following a long illness.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday, Aug. 7, beginning at 3 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Hillsboro, 506 South Main Street. Interment will follow in Asbury Cemetery in Raymond.
Mrs. Grassel was born on Sept. 13, 1926, in Hillsboro, to Robert H. and Pearl A. Seymour. She was a Hillsboro High School graduate and graduated from Washington University College of Nursing in St. Louis, MO, in 1946. She met her future husband, Clure McHenry "Mac" Grassel, in Hillsboro. The couple married on Dec. 22, 1946, following Mr. Grassel's return home from service in the U.S. Navy.
Mrs. Grassel worked as a registered nurse at Cook County Hospital in Chicago .In 1957, she left nursing to open and operate a drugstore, Grassel Pharmacy, in LaGrange with her pharmacist husband. The Grassels retired to Eureka Springs, AR, in 1978, where they built a home on Beaver Lake.
Mrs. Grassel dedicated her life to caring for others. Following her husband's death in 1986, she spent large amounts of time volunteering at the Methodist church, local hospital, and nursing home in Eureka Springs, AR. She was an incredibly special person and enjoyed assisting others, many of whom she did not know. Many of the people whose lives she touched have long since died but would all have agreed that the world was a better place because she was in it.
Mrs. Grassel is survived by two children, Richard Grassel of St. Petersburg, FL, Marcia Grassel of Eureka Springs, AR; a grandchild, Christine (Grassel) Agenor of St. Petersburg, FL; and a sister-in-law, Pat (Grassel) Rappuhn of Sun Lakes, AZ.
She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; a son, Michael Grassel; a grandson, Ryan Grassel; and siblings, Merrill Seymour and Willa Joy Seymour.
