Violet Grapp
Violet Grapp
(Blanche) Violet Grapp was born to Michael and Lula (Odle) Heber on December 17, 1921 at Rockham, South Dakota. She was the youngest child of ten children born in that family.
She attended elementary school in a one room school house along with her brothers and sisters. She graduated from Faulkton High School in 1939.
She attended Northern State Teacher’s College (now NNA) in Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1939-40. She then attended Aberdeen Business College from which she graduated in 1942. She always wanted to be a secretary - the teacher training was her father’s idea.
She worked at Sheldon F. Reese Elevator Company at Aberdeen from 1942-44 as a secretary. She resigned her job there in the spring of 1942 and went to Vancouver, WA where her brother Marion and sister-in-law and various relations lived. She was employed as a secretary at McLoughlin Jr. High School for one year. She returned to South Dakota in 1945 due to her mother’s poor health.
In January 1946, she began working at the Internal Revenue Service in Aberdeen, South Dakota and worked there until the fall of 1953.
She married Raymond F. Grapp on September 21, 1946 and they made their home in Aberdeen.
In September 1953, she and Ray quit their jobs (he was in the automotive business), sold their home and bought a 22 foot travel trailer and traveled all around the United States for one year, going every where they wanted to go, staying as long as they wanted at each place, and thoroughly enjoying themselves. They visited all but 2 of the 48 states. They spent three months of the winter of 1953 at Hollywood, Florida and started traveling again in the spring. They returned to South Dakota in the fall of 1954 and she was again employed at the Internal Revenue Service until the spring of 1955 when their first child, Pamela Rae, was born in June, 1955.
In April 1956, they left Aberdeen and moved to Boise, Idaho. In May 1956, they bought a 15 unit apartment house in the north end of Boise and continued in the real estate rental business ever since that time, having had apartments, duplexes and houses.
She spent 15 year at home, raising her four children, but always enjoyed the business world and so in January 1971, Violet began working for the State of Idaho, Disability Determination Services as a secretary and worked there until 1987, when she retired as the Administrative Secretary of that department for the State of Idaho.
Violet and Ray had one daughter, Pamela Rae, and three sons, Garry Raymond, Larry Donald and David John. Their son Garry passed away in March, 2005.
Raymond passed away in 1989 and Violet has continued to own and manage the rental business since that time. At 94 years old, she still has one rental.
Violet enjoyed many different things during her life, especially traveling, sports (she loved the Seahawks and tennis), and trips with friends to Jackpot and Reno. She loved small animals, having taken care of about 10 dogs during her life. She felt her life was satisfying and gratifying.
She is survived by her children, Pamela Roman of Eugene, Larry Grapp and David Grapp of Boise, and grand children Jared and Leighann Cole, Amelia Messenger-Grapp, Tabatha Lewis and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Raymond Grapp in 1987, her son, Garry Grapp in 2005, her last living sister, Katherine Richardson in 2005, her parents and 6 brothers and 3 sisters. She was the last of the Heber family.
She was a member of St. John’s Cathedral and Women of St. John’s since 1956.
A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Monday, June 6, 2016 at the Alden-Waggoner Funeral Chapel. Burial will follow at Morris Hill Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, Violet’s family asks that you do something nice for a dog, or support your local Humane Society.
1921 ~ 2016
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