Grace Delores Stiften, age 89, of Saint Charles, MO, was called home to the Lord on Thursday, December 10, 2020. She was born in St. Louis, Mo on December 8, 1931, to Eli and Grace (nee Wells) Vidacak and she was the tenth of eleven children.
Grace Delores was married to Edward M. Stiften for nearly 63 years before he passed away in 2015. She was Ed's "reason for living". She was kind and gentle and liked by everyone. Grace was foremostly devoted to her family and she was known as a fastidious housekeeper. In the early years of their marriage, Grace Delores was a homemaker and mom to their four children. Later, she worked in the school cafeteria, worked as a salesclerk for Famous Barr, and finally worked many years as a secretary for the US Government. Despite having to drop out of school at fifteen, she loved education. Grace Delores completed her GED in her forties and even took a couple of courses at the community college.
Grace Delores had a beautiful singing voice and shared a love of music and sports with her husband Ed. She regularly attended the sporting events of her husband, children, and grandchildren. She was a good bowler with many trophies for league play. Grace was a faithful member of Chapel of the Cross Lutheran church, and in later years, made friends in a Widows' fellowship group. Grace Delores resided at The Boulevard of Saint Charles for three years prior to her death. She loved all babies and was delighted to have two great-grandchildren.
Grace Delores is survived by her four children and their spouses: Vivian (Stiften) and Ken Gontarz, Edward J. and Brenda (Pugh) Stiften, Elaine (Stiften) and Steve Pitliangas, and Karl A. Stiften. She is also survived by two of her ten siblings: Rose (Vidacak) Badillo of Texas and Shirley (Vidacak) Pitman of Florida. She was pre-deceased by her siblings: Paul Vidacak, Mary (Vidacak) Gamble, Pauline (Vidacak) Doskal, John Vidacak, twins Joseph Vidacak and Josephine (Vidacak) Backi, Eva (Vidacak) Jones, and Eli Vidacak II. She is also survived by her grandsons Paul, Peter, Luke, Jake, Mark and their spouses and children, and by many beloved nieces and nephews.
Due to COVID, visitation is limited to immediately family members. Internment will follow at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery at 11:15 am the same day but is limited to immediate family members.
In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or to Heartland Hospice.
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