Ida Grace Such, 87, of Brownsburg, Indiana, passed away at 8:26 a.m. on November 6, 2018. Grace was born on April 6, 1931, in McClean County, Illinois. She was the youngest of three daughters, along with Ada Elmerine and Mary Ellen, to Elmer Benjamin Oskin, a tobacco farmer, and Sadie Leona Thrasher.

After the death of Grace's mother, the Oskin family lived with her father's mother in McClean County. Her earliest recollections are of sitting around the stove shelling peanuts with Uncle Lonny and how they always had oranges and peanuts at Christmas.

Elmer was a hardworking widow, but, oftentimes only earning fifty cents per week, he, in 1935, made the difficult decision to bring his girls to Veech's Orphans Home, overseen by Georgia Richardson, in Rockport, Indiana. Ida and her sisters joined forty others where she became known as "Gracie." After church, they made homemade ice cream to enjoy before bedtime. They would play hopscotch and scrub, a pickup softball game, for any child who finished their chores. Gracie was involved in 4-H from age eight to 17, and twice earned her way to the Indiana State Fair sewing competitions.

In 1945, Gracie went to live with Georgia Richardson whom they called Aunt Georgie. While at Rockport High School, Gracie participated in Glee Club, Beech Leaves school periodical, Operetta, her junior class play, was a prom attendant, as well as a member of the Annual Yearbook Staff. For three years in high school, she worked at "Tresslers 5c, 10c, and 25c" store earning thirty cents per hour. In her senior yearbook, it listed characteristics of the senior class: Gracie's pet peeve was fast cars; her favorite saying was "Just for the fun of it"; her favorite hobby was collecting perfume bottles; her ambition was to run a dog kennel (with all the strays of all species she collected over the years, she certainly realized her ambition).

In Gracie's senior year, after performing in the top three in the Tri County area on a certain test, she was offered a job at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis. In 1949, Gracie moved to Indianapolis and stayed at the Blue Triangle Residence Hall in downtown Indianapolis. After a year, she worked at the Unemployment Office, but was laid off after six months. She then took a position as a mail clerk at Spiegels and worked her to Assistant Manager by the age of twenty.

Grace met Edward Louis Such in 1950 through her roommate, Carolyn Shaffer who was dating Ed's brother, Al Such. Ed was in his second year at General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan. Ed graduated in 1953 and they were married on February 27, 1954. They spent their first year together in a small apartment behind Ed's mother's house in Speedway, Indiana. They were blessed with twins, Mary Ida and Edward Louis, on October 27, 1954. Sadly, Mary died within hours of her birth while Ed Jr. died three months later. They are buried at Holy Cross/St. Joseph & Calvary Cemetery.

Ed and Grace then moved to a two-bedroom house on Plainview Drive in the Farley Addition on Indianapolis's west side where Christopher Edward was born on November 23, 1955; Michael Benjamin was born on November 19, 1956; Karen Elizabeth was born on November 7, 1957; Samuel Joseph was born November 26, 1958; David Matthew was born on November 6, 1959; Dawn Marie was born on November 19, 1960; James "Bomber" Andrew was born on April 9, 1964; Thomas Patrick was born on October 21, 1967. Days before David was born they moved into their newly-built home on Maren Drive in Speedway.

As the children grew, the Such family worked hard and played harder. They had a large garden at Kay & Harwell Bannister's farm in Lizton, Indiana, and every year Grace would can everything she could. All of the children were involved in sports, and Ed would coach the boys while Grace would lead the cheerleaders.

While Ed prospered as an engineer at General Motors Corporation in Speedway, Grace excelled at managing the ever-expanding activities of the Such kids. As the kids entered Speedway Junior High School and Speedway High School, Ed was beginning to travel more in new leadership roles. The Such kids were in band, plays, sports, twirling, and just about anything they could think of. Grace designed and sewed costumes for the plays, twirling contests, and tuba covers and flag costumes for band. She was known as "Mom" to many of the children around Speedway. She could be seen at any time, day or night, in her station wagon overflowing with kids and sports equipment or band instruments. During the summer, she would drive the kids to Westlake Country Club to swim almost every day.

During the 1970-1971 school year, Grace worked in the lunchroom at Wheeler Elementary School supervising children. She also worked at Block's department store in Lafayette Square Mall and at Lumberman's Insurance Company.

Ed died suddenly of a heart attack on August 26, 1991. This was Grace's hardest time. She felt lost, like she had no direction. However, her inner strength and her faith pulled her through. She filled her days making porcelain dolls and designing outfits for them. She attended computer classes so she could "talk the same language as her grandchildren." Her big, growing family kept her very busy with everything from vacations to musicals, concerts to sports, and a huge range of other activities. Grace's strength has brought her through good times and bad. She has passed this resilience and optimism onto her children and she will live on in the memories of all who has had the privilege of knowing her.

Visitation will be Saturday, November 10, 2018 from Noon to 2 pm at Matthews Mortuary in Brownsburg, Indiana, with funeral services there at 12 pm.  She will be buried alongside her husband immediately afterward in Floral Park Cemetery in Indianapolis. She is survived by seven children and their spouses, 34 grandchildren and their spouses, and 39 great-grandchildren.  She was very interested in her grandkids exploration through books and travel.  In lieu of flowers, please make memorial donations to the Brownsburg Public Library, 450 South Jefferson St., Brownsburg, IN  46112.