Monday morning, January 25, 2016, Gretchen Loraine Brading went to be with the Lord. She was only one month away from her 102nd birthday.
Gretchen was born on a snowy day in a farmhouse near Rigdon, Indiana on February 25, 1914. She attended a one room grade school and then Point Isabel middle grades, and finally graduated from Elwood High School in 1932. She then attended Ball State University for 3 and a half years majoring in accounting. On leaving college she worked as a bookkeeper during jobs in Muncie, Anderson, Indianapolis and Marion. She also received a CPA degree from LaSalle and attended several tax school sessions at Purdue University. She had her own tax accounting business and managed her and her son’s farms in Grant and Blackford counties.
In 1946, she married Wilmer M. Brading who preceded her in death. Gretchen was active in several local organizations. Her favorites were Marion Department Club, Business and Professional Women’s Club, Van Buren American Legion Ladies Auxiliary, the Republican Party, and the Altrusa Club. She also loved animals and contributed to the Grant County Animal Shelter.
She is survived by one son, James and partner Kate Long, of Kokomo; three grandsons, Shadel (Erica) of Oxford, Ohio, Clinton (Toby) of Marion, and Derek of Kokomo; and 5 great- grandchildren, Dylan, Dawson, LaDacia, Madison, and Mariah.
Funeral Services will be held at noon Saturday, January 30, 2016 in Raven-Choate Funeral Home, 1202 Kem Road, Marion, Indiana
Friends may call from 10:00 a.m. to noon Saturday, January 30, prior to the funeral service.
Burial will immediately follow funeral services in Albright Cemetery, Kokomo, Indiana.
Online condolences may be made at www.ravenchoate.com