Living by Grace (biography)

By Brian Claspell

Grace Irene Johnson was not born a rich girl. She did not die a rich woman either. At least the standards of the world did not judge her as a rich woman. She was born in the mountains of Tennessee just outside of a small town named Soddy to parents who made their living off of the land and out of a coal mine. Grace married a preacher from Indiana, Lewis Claspell, and started a family. She raised a large family amidst the great depression where she discovered what it really meant to do without. Through this, Grace grew in stature, in determination and in faith. The preacher's family converted to "Mormonism" and became the Mormon pioneers of the mid 1900's - never going west but establishing their beliefs where they lived. With the loss of her child, at only 11 hours old, Grace's beliefs and desire to move on were tested. She reached for her courage and for her strength. Through this experience and others, her perspective on this life and the next life forever changed. Her belief in God and her family were her strength. In the end she died with enough means to support herself. But it is how she lived that is the story. She lived by grace. Out of the coal mines as an unrefined stone to a refined diamond of a woman, rich in the life she lived, the legacy she left and the eternal perspective she had.