Grace A. Saatman

GRACE A. WAGER SAATMAN died February 23, 2023.  She was born August 21, 1938 to Ambrose M. and Grace E. Pritting Wager and raised in the Finger Lakes area of New York, graduating from Watkins Glen Central School (Class of ’56) and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Grace married Raymond R. Saatman at Anabel Taylor Chapel on the Cornell Campus, August 26, 1961.  They both enjoyed working as staff at Cornell University and raising their five daughters in the academic environment of Ithaca. The family attended Oak Avenue Lutheran Church, now known as St. Luke Lutheran Church.

In Ithaca, Grace had been a founding member of the IACC Day Care Center, a Brownie and Girl Scout leader at Belle Sherman (Seven Lakes Girl Scout Council), and a member of the board of the Ladies Union Benevolent Society (affiliated with McGraw House), American Association of University Women, and P.E.O. Chapter BD.   She greatly treasured the many years working with faculty, graduate students, international students, Peace Corps participants, directors and deans all within the NYS College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell from 1957-2001.  She began her interest in genealogy in 1996 as a member of the New York Chapter of Palatines to America German Genealogy Society, serving on the Society’s National Governing Board continuously from 1998-2020.

After Ray died in 2001, Grace remained in Ithaca for a number of years. In 2009 Grace made the move to Lexington, KY where she became a member of Faith Lutheran Church, P.E.O. Chapter AE, and the Indiana Chapter of Palatines to America.  She enjoyed three cruises with family: the Mexican Riviera, San Francisco to Acapulco; the Mediterranean, Rome to Monaco; and the Baltic, London to St. Petersburg, Russia.  A love of travel lured her to The Passion Play in Oberammergau in 2010.  After years of anticipation she traveled to Germany for two weeks in 2014 to visit the three ancestral villages of the Saatman(n), Wager, and Pritting/Prütting families.

Grace was a historian for her family lines, a writer of letters, a collector of friends, a voracious reader, and a lover of flowers and trees and pets of all kinds.  Friends remember her outgoing nature, her keen eye for observation, and her sharp wit. 

In addition to her husband, Grace was pre-deceased by her parents of Watkins Glen and Cohocton, NY; sister, Mary Paveling of East Patchogue, NY; and in-laws, Arthur and Bertha Tucholka Saatman of Hartly, DE. She is survived by daughters: Lorraine and husband James Audia, Vienna, VA; Janine, Delmar, NY; Kathryn, Lexington, KY; Suzette Wilson and husband Douglas, St. Charles, MO; and Donna and husband Zachary Scholl, Ocala, FL; brothers-in law, Ronald Saatman and wife Gloria, Hartly, DE; and Robert Saatman and wife Patricia, Wilmington, DE; grandchildren, Madeline and Emily Wilson, Nicole Audia, Raymond and Lucas Saatman, and Troy, Erica, and Kyle Scholl; many nieces and nephews.

Funeral arrangements are being coordinated by Lansing Funeral Home, Lansing, NY.  Funeral service will be held March 10, 2023 at 4:00 pm at Faith Lutheran Church, 1000 Tates Creek Rd., Lexington, KY.  Visitation with family will follow from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. 

A burial ceremony will take place at East Lawn Cemetery, Ithaca, NY, on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at 1:00 p.m.  Contributions in Grace’s memory may be made to Lutheran World Relief, PO Box 17061, Baltimore, MD 21297 (online at lwr.org/give); or to a local animal humane society.