Grace E. Hershberger

Grace Hershberger died in her home on May 6, 2026 with her family in attendance.

Grace E. (Bontrager) Hershberger was born to Jerry and Edna (Bontrager) Bontrager on February 22, 1933 in Hutchinson, Kansas. She spent her childhood living and working on a dairy and wheat farm. She attended a one-room school for grades one through eight. At age thirteen she went to boarding school at Hesston Academy, Hesston, Kansas and attended there four years, as well as one year of Hesston College. She taught in a one-room school in Kansas (when she was 18 years old) for two years.

Grace met John Hershberger at Hesston, and on May 2, 1953, they were married at Yoder Mennonite Church in Yoder, Kansas.

They were blessed with four children: Geneva Ann, Kay Louise, Charlotte Fay and Jeffrey Owen.

The family lived in Kansas City, Missouri, Hesston, Kansas, Glenwood Springs and Denver, Colorado. They lived for 18 months in Baltimore, Maryland, then returned to Arvada, Colorado where Grace resided for another 20 years.

Grace completed her college degree in education at Loretto Heights College of Denver in 1980. She taught in the Jefferson County Public Schools for 15 years in the lower elementary grades.

After John’s death in 1993, Grace retired from teaching. In 1999 she moved to Goshen, Indiana where her son and his family live.

Grace was always active in the Mennonite Churches she attended. She volunteered at Ten Thousand Villages stores in Denver, Goshen and Shipshewana for 25 years. She was a docent at the Denver Art Museum and volunteered at the Goshen College Historical Library.

She belonged to a book club in Goshen for many years, and was a member of the National and State Button Societies and the American Association of University Women.

She loved reading, listening to classical music, genealogy, traveling around the world, collecting antique buttons and giving presentations about buttons.

Grace’s joy was spending time with family and friends.

She is survived by her sister, Lola Faye (Bob) Erb-Yoder, Kalona, Iowa; her children: Geneva Hershberger (Pat Cameron), Wichita, Kansas, Kay Hershberger (Gregg Stalter, died Nov 2018), Goshen, Indiana; Charlotte Koenig (Susan Klemme), Warrenville, Illinois; Jeffrey Hershberger (Juanita (Miller) Hershberger), Goshen, Indiana; her grandchildren: Emily (Koenig) Eldred (Jeff Eldred), Naperville, Illinois; Adam Cameron (Ericka Cameron), Wichita, Kansas; Jenae (Hershberger) Yockey (Scott Yockey), Grand Rapids, Michigan; Brooke (Hershberger) DeLeeuw (Mark DeLeeuw), Goshen, Indiana and her great-grandchildren: Desmond Eldred, Josie Grace DeLeeuw, and Cade Yockey.

She was preceded in death by her husband John, her parents, her brother Ray Bontrager, her sister Donna Martin, and her son-in-law Gregg Stalter.

Special thanks to Heart to Heart Hospice for the excellent care they have provided. The family also would like to thank Kathy and Kirsten for their loving attention. Memorials may be sent to Hesston College, 301 S Main St, Hesston, KS 67062.