Gretta Yvonne Walton

  Gretta Yvonne Ables Portz Walton, 87, died Monday, January 3, 2022, in East Jordan, Michigan.  She died at her home on Lake Charlevoix in the cottage built by her beloved husband, Jerrold Walton.  It was a beautiful sunny winter day.

  Fair of face, with an even more beautiful heart, Gretta was born on May 6, 1934, in Sikeston, Missouri at the home of her grandparents, Mama and Papa Ables, the first child of Nina (Dillard) and Willard Cline Ables.  From a young age, Mama Ables guided Gretta to take her troubles to the cross and leave them there. And, she did.

  Gretta met Jerry in high school in Grand Blanc, Michigan.  At the end of their senior year in 1952, they were crowned King and Queen of the prom.  They married on August 20, 1955, and made their longtime home among friends and family in Grand Blanc.  They thanked God for their five children; Samuel (died 2012), Kelli, Matthew (Diane), Joseph (died at birth 1969) and Katharine (Russell Goodburn) and enjoyed raising them with the children of their old school friends and the new friends they met as Grand Blanc grew.

 After Jerry died in 1988, Gretta married Joe Catanese, also of Grand Blanc, and always cherished her time with his large family of children and grandchildren.

 Gretta enjoyed many happy years working with students in the guidance office at Grand Blanc High School and volunteering through Jaycees, Lioness, and National Alliance for Mental Health in Grand Blanc and East Jordan.

  Gretta was predeceased by so many she loved including her sisters, Linda  and Donna of Michigan, her brother, Don of Missouri, great grandson, Adrian, all of her close Class of ’52 girlfriends, and her oldest nephew, Michael, the son of her most beloved sister, Jo, who was with Gretta through all her life’s journey sharing the happy and the sad.

 Gretta is survived by three children; five grandchildren; fifteen great grandchildren; sisters, Jo Cavanaugh of Grand Blanc and Marilyn (Bill) Boyce of Sikeston; sister-in-law, Kay Ables of Dexter, Missouri; sister-in-law of sixty-seven years, Sandra Walton Neumann of Mancelona, many nieces and nephews and many, many, many cousins.  She loved them all!

  A memorial service will be scheduled at a future date.  The family was served by the Penzien Funeral Homes, Inc., East Jordan, Michigan.

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