Alice Breemer

Alice Breemer, 85, of Grinnell, died at the Mayflower Community Health Care Center on Thursday, October 23, 2025.
Daughter of Edward and Myra Mayo, Alice was born in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1940. Her family eventually moved to Des Moines, where she graduated from St. Joseph's Academy. Following high school, Alice matriculated to Drake University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in English and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society.
While studying at Drake, Alice met and fell in love with John D. Breemer. They married November 17, 1962, and remained happily so until his death in 2005. To their union, they welcomed three daughters. The couple moved to Grinnell in 1965.
Alice began her career as a Head Start teacher, but her skills as a researcher and writer eventually led her to the field of grant writing. She served as a grant writer/researcher for Grinnell College and Des Moines University. She also freelanced for passion projects, such as seeking and securing funding for the construction of Grinnell's Drake Community Library.
Her love of learning led her back to the classroom later in her career. While working full-time, Alice commuted to Iowa State University in Ames, where she earned her Master of Arts degree in English in 1999. During that course of study, she was inducted into the graduate academic honor society Phi Kappa Phi.
Alice was passionate about preserving democracy and volunteered for decades with the Democratic Party, phone banking and door-knocking for various candidates. In addition to leading voter registration efforts, she served as the Poweshiek County Democratic Central Committee Chair and on the Grinnell Human Rights Commission. Alice was also a voracious reader and loved talking about books and current events over glasses of red wine.
Alice is survived by her three daughters and their spouses, Andrea and Michael Frantz of Storm Lake, Karen and Tim Whitaker of Iowa City, and Sarah and Mike Tobias of Green Valley, Arizona, as well as one granddaughter, Hannah Frantz, and her husband Zach Theiler of Washington, DC. Other survivors include her siblings, John Mayo of Iowa City and Mary Mayo of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and her sister-in-law, Susan Wickham of Des Moines. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, and parents-in-law.
A long-time believer in the advancement of education, Alice chose to donate her body to anatomical science at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City. The family will plan a memorial service at a later date. Her family is grateful to the staff at the Mayflower Health Center, as well as St. Croix Hospice, for their care and support of Alice, in particular through her final months.
In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that memorials be directed to support the Drake Community Library or the Poweshiek Animal Shelter (PALS), both in Grinnell. Memorials may be mailed in care of the Smith Funeral Home and Crematory, PO Box 368, Grinnell, IA 50112. The family would be equally pleased if those wishing to honor Alice chose to plant a tree to save the planet. Condolences may be shared with Alice's family online at www.smithfh.com.