Grace Alida Vlam

Grace Alida Hermine Vlam, age 95, passed peacefully at her home in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 1, 2026. Born on December 17, 1930, in Den Helder, The Netherlands, to Pieter Vlam and Hanna Melanie Gysler, she was the first daughter of Dutch and Swiss parentage. With her siblings, she was sealed to her eternal family on June 9, 1938, in the Salt Lake Temple. She endured and survived the Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II before emigrating with her family to Salt Lake City, where she continued her studies and her lifelong service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A dedicated educator, artist, art historian, scholar, and genealogist, Grace earned degrees from Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, and a PhD from the University of Michigan. She taught at institutions of higher learning in Michigan, New York, and Utah, concluding her teaching career at Salt Lake Community College. A published scholar on three continents, she was also an accomplished artist, printmaker, and designer-craftsman who served as Curator and Acting Director of the Salt Lake Art Center. In the 1980s she became a certified archaeologist, volunteering at Anasazi digs in southern Utah and in the Field School Lab in Provo, where she reconstructed ancient pottery. Her deep commitment to genealogy, which she saw as intertwined with archaeology, led her to become an Accredited Genealogist specializing in Dutch research. She served countless families worldwide and discovered important Swiss family archives connected to her mother’s lineage.

Grace’s scholarly pursuits and travels took her across Western Europe, the Mediterranean, the Near East, Asia, and Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, with a particular focus on sacred architecture. These journeys complemented her extensive temple service and genealogical work. She fulfilled mission calls to the Netherlands, the Palmyra Pageant, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Temple Square. A longtime member of the Swiss Chorus “Edelweiss,” she carried the edelweiss as her personal emblem. From her studies she drew inspiration from the Egyptian concept of Ma’at and the Buddhist ideal of the Bodhisattva, seeing in both a harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the call to act as saviors on Mount Zion.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Vera, her brothers Alvin and Heber, and her dear friend Joe Hill. Grace is survived by her sister-in-law Marilee J. Vlam of Salt Lake City; eleven nieces and nephews—Melanie (Michael) Findeis, Clark (Chalyce) Vlam, Melissa (Anthony) Hammond, Curtis Vlam, Christopher (Ericka) Vlam, Marci (Jared) Draper, Mandi Vlam, Misti (Brad) Flint, Andrew Scott (Karyn) Vlam, Aimee (Michael) Seal, and Cindi (Nate) Hill—and twenty-seven great-nieces and nephews. She is also remembered by numerous cousins and extended family members in the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Australia. To all of them and to her many friends of different faiths, she offered her heartfelt Dutch farewell, “Tot Ziens,” as she continued her journey.