Janet, so sorry to hear about a Grace Ann. May all of your hearts be a peace as you remember fond memories of her. Our prayers are with you at this time and in the coming days.
Love,
David and Susan

I am so very sorry to hear about Grace's passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, Janet.

I remember how much Grace loved going to Luby's. Your mom and I would take her for lunch. She enjoyed lunch with the girls.....  Chuck and I are so sorry for your loss.  God needed another angel.  We are thinking of you all and our prayers are with you.  We love you.  Carolyn and Chuck Halvorsen

My sincere condolences Janet to you and your family.

Janet and family,
We are so sorry for your loss. I remember well all the wonderful stories you related about your sweet sister. Blessings to all if you.

I will always remember Grace Ann''s love of music and performing. She always had the best time at family reunions. The best part was watching and feeling the love of her brothers and sisters for her. RIP, Angel. Love,Lorraine

I will never forget when Robert was living with us and Aunt Grace well she loves guys as we all know.  She went up to him one morning and started shimmying her chest in his face, backed him into a corner (not the first time she has done this to a guy)!!!  Robert started walking around joking how he was blind and Aunt Grace just kept following him cracking up shaking at him!!!  She was such a flirt!!!

John was so amazing with her, better then really anyone.  He loved to pick her brain and test her.  We often we the ones that picked her up and brought her to the airport or mom's house.  Every time he would turn on 93.7 or 106.9 and say who is this, when was it written etc and she damn near always knew.  They would sing the songs together and have a blast!!!

Love you Aunt Grace, you will be missed so very much!!!  I will hold you close to my heart with these amazing memories until we see one another again!!!

What a lovely photo of you three. I will continue to pray for you and your family. Truly  God is the great heart healer.  Love, Sheila Hitchcock

Grace Ann was a little tiny package with a great big personality.  She has given us all enough material to last a lifetime!  Anybody who knows our family knows that she was the hub.  We grew up in a loving home with great parents and strong values.  I thought we had a great life.  My childhood was full of wonderful memories, magic Christmases and family barbecues.  Our social life was primarily family.  Enter Grace Ann ... April 1st, 1965; Janet was 18 (Grace missed being born on her birthday by 4 days), Bob 17, I was almost 10, Jim almost 7.  Our family was forever changed.  We had this little "angel" that God had blessed our family with who we each knew would need care and protection for the rest of her life.  She was tough, tenacious and as stubborn a person as any of us had ever met!  She was also a rock star!  She was like a dog with a bone if she had her mind set on something and changing Grace Ann's focus was almost as difficult as moving the Rock of Gibraltar!  LOL.  We all have our memories ...

When Grace Ann was born we were told she was "Mongoloid" which I couldn't understand at all because I thought that meant she was from Mongolia and I had no idea how that happened!  I remember Mom and I sitting on the living room floor when Grace Ann was just a few months old and I was telling Mom how perfect she was and how smart she was and Mom said "Well honey, I don't think your sister is going to be like other children".  Seemed like time stood still in that living room as Mom explained to me that Grace might never walk, might never talk … that she would be different.  I couldn't believe anything was wrong with her - she just seemed so perfect.  Mom and Dad were way ahead of their time; they got busy right away and surrounded her with bright colors and stimulated her brain from the very beginning.  They were told she would never be educable – only perhaps trainable to do simple tasks.  They were encouraged to put her in an institution “for the sake of the whole family”.  My parents weren't going for it, this was their daughter and they were determined to give her every chance at a full and productive life that they could provide her.  I think Mom started teaching Grace to read the day she was told she never would.  Way to go Mom!   She graduated High School and we were all there - in tears as she crossed the stage - raised her arms in the air and yelled "I DID IT".  She was unstoppable.  Quite literally - at times that was a good thing - at times it made us all crazy ... but she knew how to get what she needed.  The down side to all this was that Grace Ann really did not fit in anywhere.  A lot of the other kids with Downs were much more docile and lower functioning and of course, she did not fit in with the "normal" kids.  She learned to lose herself in music and became almost a savant when it came to that subject.  Grace Ann could not only tell you the name of a song but what album it was recorded on, who did it and many times what label it was recorded on.  She could usually even tell you who the band members were.  It was amazing!

14 months ago Grace Ann lost her ability to walk.  After several unsuccessful attempts to get her back on her feet she took to her bed and never got back out of it,  This last 14 months made me realize just how tough she was, what a fighter she was.  She had to have had a great deal of pain for many years ... how she continued to do the things she did must have taken sheer determination.  She had tremendous nerve damage and scoliosis of the spine.  It is surprising we didn't reach this point much sooner than we did.  Through the rough years Grace Ann and I had a bit of a love/hate relationship.  Did I mention she was tough?  Really, really tough.  BUT when she got sick - she turned back into that little girl, that sweet, defenseless little girl.  What we shared for the past year or so was incredibly special and a gift to me.  I fell back in love with my little sister and found myself looking at her the same way I did when she was first given to us - she was perfect.  Oh her body was failing miserably and nothing about her situation was perfect - but her heart, her love - that was perfect.  Her innocence and purity were so clearly evident. The love that was between us was the deep and abiding kind and more mother and child in nature than that of sisters.  I will miss her terribly ... it has not even begun to hit me that she is really gone.  I cling to "The Hope" as my comfort:

1 Thess 4:16-18
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Grace Ann ... we will think of you every time we pass the salt … every time we hear a Michael Jackson song … or Bon Jovi or Donnie Osmond or George Michael – all men who missed out on marrying you!  We will think of you every time we pass a McDonald's or a Taco Bell or any time we hear the song R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  We will remember honey … with love and laughter.  You filled us up and while it was not always an easy or a pleasant road … it was our road and we all walked it together.  I miss you already and my heart aches to hear the shout and the trump and be reunited with you and so many of our loved ones who have preceded us.  
Until then … you will always be held in our hearts – our very own “Amazing Grace”
Love you “SISTA”

Dianne

OBITUARY

Grace Ann Ryan

April 1, 1965 – December 11, 2013

Waltrip Funeral Directors

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