Grace Jarvi

Grace E. Jarvi passed away quietly on July 13, 2013, surrounded by her family at Bonaventure Senior Living where she had resided for the past two years. Grace was born on the Lammert DeVries homestead east of Roberts to Charles and Margaret DeVries, where she joined her siblings Charlotte and Ernie, later came brothers Arthur and David. No stranger to hard work, on the farm she learned the ethics that would afford her a lifetime of satisfaction by accomplishing every task that came her way. She attended Roberts school starting in 1932 with Sara Abrahamson as her teacher. Graduating in 1944, she married the love of her life Emil Harmala. Living on the ranch west of Roberts she had six children Marcia (George) McCleary of Roundup, Gary (Julie) of Billings, Martin (Lorene) of Billings, Wally (Ginger) of Benton City, Washington, Mark (Cheri) and David (Deni) of Billings. Grandma Grace was grandmother to 16 grandchildren and 13.7 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Emil, son Mark and son in-law George. After Emil's death in 1969 Grace married Elmer Jarvi who had two children, Irene (Paul) Roat, of Hayden, ID and Larry (Diane) Jarvi of Corvalis, OR, whom she considered has her own, as well as their children and grandchildren. Grace and Elmer lived on the farm for two years then moved to Joliet where they lived until moving to Billings, where she resided until moving to Sweetwater retirement center then on to Bonaventure after having a stroke in 2010. Grace was very interested in her heritage and loved to research her large family. She had written at least 13 different family trees and had found many distant relatives and made many friends in her quest for information. Her records are sometimes quoted on line as a source for genealogy. Her friendships were priceless to so many people and will be remembered for generations.Grace always had an ongoing project, working tirelessly to make wonderful afghans, crocheted articles and all craft projects which were a challenge that she enjoyed. Grace always put her children first, many times sacrificing her time for them, even in her last years she would encourage them to pursue their interests in lieu of her own. She followed her grandchildren and great-grandchild's activities and interests endlessly. She will be missed by all. Visitation: Visitation for Grace will be 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Wednesday at Dahl Chapel in Billings. Service: Funeral Services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Roberts Methodist Church. Interment will be in the Roberts Cemetery.