McGrath, Viola E. (Hartkemeyer)

Viola E. (Hartkemeyer) McGrath, 91, of Cedar Rapids, passed away Monday, April 30, 2012, at the Cottage Grove Place, Cedar Rapids. A funeral service celebrating Viola's life will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, May 4, at Bethany Lutheran Church, Cedar Rapids, with Pastor Randy Nord officiating. Burial will be in Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday at the church.

Survivors include her brother, Harold Hartkemeyer of Belle Plaine; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, two brothers and four sisters.

Viola was a Cedar Rapids resident since 1950. She was born on June 13, 1920, near Keystone, to Louis and Alma (Holst) Hartkemeyer. She married Lynwood McGrath on July 29, 1957, in Cedar Falls. Viola graduated with a B.A. from the Iowa State Teachers College and received her M.A. degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. She was a teacher for 42 years, 32 of them in the Harrison Elementary School in Cedar Rapids. Before Harrison, she taught in a rural school in Benton County and in the East Elementary School in Vinton.

Viola was a member of the Bethany Lutheran Church, the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, the Pi Lambda Theta, the Cedar Rapids Education Association, the Iowa State Education Association, the National Education Association and the Local, State and National Retired Teacher's Associations. She also enjoyed watching the Iowa Hawkeyes, traveling and gardening.

A memorial fund has been established in her name.

Online condolences may be expressed at under obituaries.

Published in The Gazette May 2, 2012.