MAQUOKETA — Cora Mae Grote, age 87, of Maquoketa, Iowa, died Sunday, March 30, 2008, at the Jackson County Regional Health Center in Maquoketa. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 2nd, at Chancy Lutheran Church in Clinton. Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday at the Pape Funeral Home in Clinton and from 10:00 a.m. until the service time on Wednesday at the church. Burial will be at the Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis, South Dakota. Casket bearers will be Jacob Coleman, Devin Cory, Bill Matthews and Rod Lewis.

Cora Mae was born in Tarkio, Missouri, on July 7, 1920, the daughter of Santford and Cora Clark. Cora Mae graduated from Colfax High School in Colfax, Iowa, in 1938. She graduated from AIB in Des Moines in 1941 and worked as a secretary in Des Moines until her marriage to Harvey Grote on August 19, 1944, in Des Moines.

After their wedding, Cora Mae and Harvey moved to Georgia and then onto Florida until Harvey's discharge from the Army in 1946. Cora Mae and Harvey then farmed in Medford, MN, until Harvey returned to school at Luther College in Decorah and later Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Cora Mae was a homemaker who was very active in all the church activities where she and her husband served. Cora Mae and Harvey came to Clinton in 1970. She did volunteer work as a Pink Lady at both Jane Lamb and Mercy Hospitals, was a member of Chancy Lutheran Church and its Martha Circle, belonged to Kings Daughters and delivered Meals on Wheels. Cora Mae enjoyed reading, playing cards, rug hooking, crocheting, gardening and playing the piano, organ and violin.

Cora Mae is survived by her husband, Rev. Harvey Grote of Maquoketa; five daughters, Julie (Richard) Filer Jr. of Midwest City, OK; Shari Grote of Minneapolis, MN; Mary Coleman of Roswell, NM; Martha (William) Grote-Matthews of Denver, CO; and Jo (Rod) Lewis of Cologne, MN; four grandchildren; Scott, Jacob, Zachary and Devin; and three great-grandchildren, Ryan, Kevin and Karen.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister Margaret Billingsley.