Berdene Gramlich, 1926 ~ 2014
Jul 31, 2014 | 3690 views | 0 0 comments | 47 47 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Berdene Johnson Gramlich, 88, Moab native and lifelong resident, passed away peaceably at her Moab home on July 24, 2014.

Born Jan. 17, 1926, in Moab “out across the creek” to Joseph and Ruth Westwood Johnson, she was the fifth of six children, and was raised and educated in Moab. Both sets of grandparents were Moab pioneers: Joseph Horace and Julia H. Eagar Johnson and Richard D. (Sheriff) and Martha A. Wilcox Westwood. There are many in the Moab Valley who descend from these couples.

She first married John Gritts and they were the parents of three children: Johnnie Faye, Glenn and Robert. After dissolution of marriage, she married longtime friend, Paul S. Gramlich, who brought four children to the marriage: Pauline, Sue, Lyndel and Mike. To this marriage were born two children: Jeff and Ruth.

She is preceded in death by her parents; siblings, Virginia, Martha, Enid, Warren “Joe” and Loren; both husbands; and children, Glenn, Robert, Sue and Lyndel; son-in-law, Robert E. “Bob” Blood; and grandchildren, Della Gramlich, Travis Marx and Brandilyn Blood.

  Survivors include children, Johnnie Faye, Jeff (Shirley), Pauline, Ruth (Glen) and Mike (Adele); daughter-in-law, Konnie Gritts; 17 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren; as well as numerous nieces and nephews and cousins.

Following the death of her father, her mother married Joe’s cousin, Milton E. Johnson of Moab. Milton was the father of 12 children and the couple raised the children of both families, as well as a granddaughter, Mary Hanley (Neil) Black. Of those brothers and sisters, Mildred, Karl, IdaMae, Rolla, Mary, Don, Eileen, Wayne, Melva, Ralph and Ruth predecease her, leaving John D. (Beth), and sisters-in-law, Alice, Maureen and Mary (Neil) Black surviving.

She was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and member of the Moab Third Ward, and enjoyed many years of service and auxiliary positions as well as countless acts of charitable service. She is well known for her homemade bread ‘n beans and other “simple” comfort foods.

Having left high school before graduation, she returned as an adult, and graduated with her son, Robert Gritts. Moab has been her primary residence since birth, with only brief absences while accompanying her spouses on jobs.

Funeral services will be held under the direction of Spanish Valley Mortuary.

A viewing has been scheduled for Friday, Aug. 1, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the mortuary. A pre-memorial service viewing will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ward building on Locust Lane, from 9 to 10:30 a.m., with services to begin at 11 a.m. Interment will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens following the memorial service.
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