Known as a selfless doer, Grace Sautter went soaring with the angels from her Los Gatos home on August 14, 2015. She was born in 1921 in the family home on 13th Street in San Jose and moved to town in 1964.
Locally, Grace was well known for her volunteer work at the Village House, a now-losed restaurant that was run by volunteers who donated their profits to Eastfield Ming Quong.
"Grace was our dishwasher," Village House volunteer Shirley Johnson said. Johnson met Grace at the restaurant 42 years ago, and the women became fast friends. "She had a beautiful soul," Johnson said. "Everybody liked her and she loved people."
Grace loved her groups, too, including the Art Docents of Los Gatos, which she joined in 1971. She served on the docents’ board and was a past president.
"Grace was one of those ladies who was busy all the time," Johnson said. "She still went to meetings even when she wasn’t feeling well. When she couldn’t drive anymore, people picked her up."
Her list of meetings to attend included Santa Clara University’s Catala Club. Grace joined the women’s club in 1980 and acted as its historian. The group raises scholarship funds for SCU undergraduates.
"Grace has kept meticulous records of Catala Club events–taking pictures, putting the scrapbooks together and when possible sending copies of her photos to subjects," Catala president Dianne Bonino wrote in November 2014. "Over the years Grace has been a loyal member."
Grace was also a working woman, who was employed by the Roos Bros. and Hale Brothers department stores in the 1930s.
In 1942 she joined the Anglo Bank that later became Wells Fargo. That job led her to become the first female president of the Santa Clara County chapter of the American Institute of Banking.
Armed with a commercial banking certificate from San Jose State, Grace remained in banking until 1963. But at the age of 65, following the 1986 death of her husband Fred, Grace returned to work at Wells Fargo in Los Gatos. By the time she retired in 2003, her banking career had spanned 61 years.
"Her greatest desire in life was to be a mother," son Bill Sautter ’84 wrote. An only child, Sautter described Grace as an "extraordinary mother, wife and homemaker," who was also a woman of deep Christian faith. "What mattered most to her was love and harmony with family and friends," he wrote in her obituary.
Sautter also said his mother had a near-photographic memory and was an avid traveler and photographer, a 49er and Giants fan, and a constant letter writer who had beautiful penmanship.
It’s a wonder she had time to be the caregiver for her older sister Elsie Sullivan, who is now 101 years old.