Grace Otte

Grace K. Otte, 96, of Eastport, formerly of Boyne City and Lansing, passed away on September 26, 2018 at the Eastport Village Care Home.  She was born on January 2, 1922, in Tarentum, PA, the daughter of Arnold and Grace (Wilson) Kramer.
Grace graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BS in nursing and retired from the Lansing,  School District.  She served in Japan for three years with the Dept. of Defense Schools.  Grace was a summer camp nurse for a quarter century and most of that time was spent at the State of MI Y.M.C.A. Hayo-Went-Ha boy’s camp on Torch Lake.  She belonged to the Y.M.C.A. Service Club for a decade whose mission was funding scholarships for children to attend camp.
A lifelong pacifist, she had a passion for peace and justice issues and mission, having served 46 years on mission commissions for churches she attended.  Her church family in recent years, the home church in the Central Lake region, has been a source of deep happiness and nurturing.
Grace loved to cook, read, music (all genres), theater, outdoor exercise, woodland camping and languages.
She is survived by 4 children, Susan Otte, Otho Morrison Otte, Mark Otte (Kristin), Bruce Otte (Mary Kay), a son-in-law Don Smoll, daughter-in-law Suzanne Otte, 9 beloved grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren.  She was preceded in death by a daughter Christine Smoll, a brother Arnold Wilson Kramer and her parents.
Grace would like to pass on to family and friends to learn to live by faith, trusting in the Almighty, living God to sustain you through all tribulations in this life and to believe in His promises for the future life.
A Celebration of Life will be announced in the near future. In lieu of flowers or if you would like to honor Grace’s life, memorials may be made to the YMCA Hayo-Went-Ha Camps Campership Fund, which helps underserved children attend YMCA Hayo-Went-Ha Camps, where Grace spent many summers as nurse. Donations may be sent to YMCA Hayo-Went-Ha Camps, 919 N. East Torch Lake Dr., Central Lake, MI 49622 or made on line at www.hayowentha.org/Donations.htm, noting "In Memory of Grace Otte".
Arrangements are being handled by the Central Lake Chapel of Mortensen Funeral Homes.
Online guestbook www.mortensenfuneralhomes.com.