As her bio in Continuing the Journey: The Geography of Our Faith, (ACRS Memoirs, Volume 2) recounts, “Her teaching career of thirty-nine years ranged from a one-room elementary school” through the two Mennonite high schools “to an associate professorship at Millersville State College (now Millersville University).”

During her years at EMC from 1943-56, she inspired many writers, as both a teacher and faculty advisor of Scriblerus, the creative writing society. Her own publications include Frontiers of Faithfulness: The Story of Groffdale Mennonite Church (1992) and the histories of Landis Homes Retirement Community and .

At Millersville State College, Grace developed a program for low-performing English students, for which she received a Certificate of Excellence in Teaching from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and was awarded a Commonwealth Distinguished Chair for 1976-77.

During the summer of 1981, Grace was one of the teachers sent by Goshen College to what is now Northeastern University in Shenyang, China; she retained a special love for that country and its people over the years.

has honored Grace as one of their founders. In an effort to address racial discrimination, in 1967 Grace invited a few others to join her in establishing the Menno-Housing Corporation. This organization worked to overcome unfair housing in Lancaster County by renovating buildings that low-income families could then afford to rent. In 1968 the organization expanded into Tabor Community Services, whose work is ongoing.

“Grace, who lived out the meaning of her given name, was a presence of special value wherever she was,” wrote John L. Ruth after Grace’s death. “With humble dignity and intellectual acuity, she enriched all whose lives intersected with hers.”

Grace held a bachelor’s degree from Elizabethtown College and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She did additional graduate studies at Temple University and the University of Delaware.

In Philadelphia, Carol and Timothy Martin Johnson, both ’82 grads, commute to work by public transportation, bicycles or walking; when they need to drive, they use their trusty old Corolla – 260,000 miles and counting. In January 2011, they put solar panels on the roof of their 100-year-old house, which should provide at least half their electricity. The Johnsons rent out the third floor of their house, attend a church that shares space with five other congregations, and allow an urban beekeeper to keep two hives in their back yard. The sharing and interdependence that accompany urban living, Carol writes, present “challenges, but also endless creative possibilities in which we find much joy!”

“There are a lot of little things that each one of us can do in our own homes to save the planet,” wrote Martha Ann Burgard ‘66, of Gadsen, Alabama, in a letter describing the simple things she’s done in her own home. In condensed form:

Clean with white vinegar and baking soda, because they work as well as toxic chemicals. Use a clothesline. White metal roofs reflect more sunlight and keep a house cooler. Heat with a wood stove. Wear a hat. Bundle up. Invest in a down comforter. Shop at thrift stores and yard sales. Repurpose old things. Try treating ailments with home remedies. Compost. Mulch. Turn your lawn into a wildflower meadow. Collect rainwater for the garden. Grow your own food. Buy local produce. Cook in bulk, divide into meal-sized portions, freeze for later. Avoid processed food. Buy eggs in cardboard cartons, not styrofoam, because cardboard is a good fire starter and is compostable. Don’t dry-clean clothes. If you can’t wash it, you don’t want it. Make bags and purses from fabric scraps. Use some. Give some away as gifts. Volunteer. Teach middle-schoolers how to build birdhouses.

Says Burgard: “This is the civilized way to live, in harmony with nature, not fighting it, not destroying it, but enjoying it, communing with it.”