Ethel Marie Grace

Ethel Marie Valmore Grace

In the early morning of Wednesday February 15, 2023 Mother Grace was called home by our Lord.

Ethel Marie Valmore Grace was born on November 5, 1926 in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised by her mother, Maude Marie Valmore, and stepfather, Herbert Rienhardt.

Known as Mother Grace, Ethel came to Imperial county when she was 29 and was a member of the Church of Living Water. She worked as an LVN at Brawley Hospital, and then moved on to work in the Economic Opportunity Commission in their Planned Parenthood program where she retired. She served as PTA President at the Imperial School District, union representative with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, church secretary at Church of the Living Water, was a member of the Eastern Star Masonic organization, a reserve sheriff, and worked for the homeless and seniors through the NAACP of Imperial County.

These achievements culminated in her receiving the Martin Luther King Jr. Award from the NAACP in 2018.

She is preceded in death by her husband Manual Grace Jr., daughter Linda Murina Grace, parents Maude Valmore and Herbert Rienhart, and twin brothers.

Ethel is survived by her daughters Joyce Marie Grace Hamdan and Jean Marie Wickem, her son Manual Grace III, 9 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, her nephews Johnny Scott and David Scott, and niece Renee Scott Evans.

She touched many lives over the course of the 96 years she blessed this earth and will be deeply missed by family and friends. Services will be held at Church of the Living Water 110 W Olive Ave El Centro, CA on March 9, 2023 at 11:00 am