Mary Edna Sherman, 93, of Grinnell died November 12, 2011, at the Mayflower Community Health Care Center. A memorial service has been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Thursday, November 17, at the First Baptist Church in Grinnell. Burial will be in Hazelwood Cemetery in Grinnell. Visitation with the family present will be held from 4:00 to 7:00 Wednesday evening at the Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Grinnell First Baptist Church or Grinnell Regional Hospice. The daughter of Raymond and Lillie Pilgrim, Mary Edna was born on July 5, 1918, in Grinnell, Iowa. She was educated in the Grinnell Schools and then attended Grinnell College and Iowa State University where she majored in Home Economics. Following her marriage to LaForest B. Sherman in 1939, they moved to Oelwein, IA where 'Sherm' was employed by Interstate Power and Light Company. During the war years, they were stationed in Colorado, Alabama and South Carolina. With new perspective gained after the war, they returned to Iowa and the stability and richness of farm life and the closer ties of family and friends. In the early years on the farm, she gardened, canned, sewed, upholstered furniture and worked at raising four children. When the eldest child was approaching college, she began a twenty-two year career with Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, which began as a financial measure but which ended with a fond farewell to lifelong friends. Both Mary Edna and Sherm were active in the First Baptist Church, where Mary Edna was on numerous boards and committees and where she shared her beautiful voice. She also was a long-time hospital volunteer and Red Cross Board member. Her life was not all work and she especially enjoyed her membership in Magoun Club and several bridge groups. In the early years of retirement, their travel included trips to Alaska, Mexico, Nova Scotia, and the Southeastern seaboard and two very special trips to Europe. With longer sojourns to Arizona, they spent wonderful times with her brother, Estel, and they reveled in their many new found friends. It was in this period that Mary Edna discovered her artistic side and began painting, to the joy of her family. Her voice also had a new stage within a secular chorus, complete with costumes! Later years brought happy moves to the Seeland Park and Mayflower communities. Survivors include her four children; LaForest 'John' (Winnie) Sherman, III of Grinnell, Jack (Cynthia) Sherman of Grinnell, Mary Pat (Tom) Griffin of Apple Valley, MN and Raymond (Sheryl) Sherman of Camas, WA; nine grandchildren; and seventeen great-grandchildren. Mary Edna died on November 12, 2011, at Mayflower Home, at the age of 93. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, brothers, Jack Pilgrim and Estel Pilgrim and one granddaughter, Michelle Renaud.