MARIAN LOUISE GRAPE

Marian Louise Grape, 77, died Oct. 4, 2010, at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage of natural causes.

A service is Oct. 16 at Valley Harvest Church in Palmer. Her husband, Jerry Grape, will officiate.

Marian was born Oct. 26, 1932, in Southerlin, Neb. She graduated from Salam High School in 1950.

Marian moved to Palmer in August 1984 and worked as a candystriper and bookkeeper in her younger years. She was a homemaker and cared for her family in her later years.

Marian’s passion was helping people and spreading the word of sobriety. Marian celebrated more than 34 years of sobriety. She also loved photography and quilting.

“Marian loved and cared for her children so much that it sometimes got her into trouble,” her family wrote. “Visits to the hospital during her last days, many people confided in us how she helped change their lives with her courageous stories of finding sobriety and her strong love and belief for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Loving and caring for people was her life. She always had a shoulder to cry on or time to just listen, even during her busiest of days. Her wisdom was beyond her years. She will always be loved and missed, and though she is no longer physically with us she remains our sun among the stars.”

She is survived by her husband, Jerry Grape; children, Eric Van Dusen, Jeffrey Carlson, Nancy Petrin and Gerald Mills; grandchildren, Daniel Van Dusen, Eric Van Dusen Jr., Alexie Van Dusen, Samantha Green, Tawnee Carlson, Tiffany Carlson, Travis Mills, Andrea Petrin, Wade Smith and Dwight Mills; and five great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her mother, father, brother, sister and great-grandson, Zachary Quinten Carl McCrum.

In lieu of flowers the family would like memorial donations be made to Breast Cancer Focus Awareness & Education, P.O. Box 242464, Anchorage, AK 99524.

Arrangements are with Legacy Funeral Homes & Cremation Services — Kehl’s Palmer Chapel, legacyalaska.com.