“‘You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing.’”
– E.B. White, from Charlotte’s Web.
It is with profound sadness that her family announces the passing from this life of Emily Diane
(Bella) Grontkowski, 49, on November 18, 2025, at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana due to complications from a stroke. She was a beloved daughter, sister, wife, mother, granddaughter, niece, cousin, loyal friend, and a cherished, dedicated special education teacher for her entire career, spending nine years at Eastside Elementary School and fifteen years at Howard-Ellis Elementary School, both part of Niles Community Schools in Niles, Michigan. She was honored in 2025 with an Honor Credit Union Annual Teacher Award, a reflection of the creativity, respect, wisdom, and love she brought every day to her lucky students. She was especially grateful for the support and friendship of her classroom assistants, Jessi Bowman and Teri Bigby.
Emily was born on October 13, 1976, sharing a birthday with her older sister, Rachel, in Escanaba, Michigan, to her mother, Debra (Seuss) Dew and her father, Ramon Bella. Emily faced the first of many life challenges with characteristic tenacity and courage at three months old when she received open heart surgery for a congenital heart defect, at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Despite her health and personal hardships, Emily was known for her gentle spirit, her wide smile, her loving heart, her giving nature, and her habit of seeing the best in every person she encountered. She simply loved life, from the birds that visited her feeders and the trees that grew on the land at her rural home outside of Niles, Michigan to the wildlife she witnessed on her boat trips with her husband on the St. Joseph River, and her journeys to visit her dad in his cabin in the Upper Peninsula, where she and her son fished on the Whitefish River. She loved cooking, creating artistic displays in her classroom, attending her son’s hockey games, working with clay to make pottery, listening to the Beatles, reading books like Charlotte’s Web to her delighted students, and throwing parties with her sister, Rachel, most recently to celebrate her son’s graduation from high school.
Emily is survived by her husband, Trebor Grontkowski, her son, Rowan Iwaniuk, her mother,
Debra Dew, her father, Ramon Bella, her stepfather, Sylvester Dew, her sisters, Rachel (Bella)
Richmond and Katie (Dew) Joyner, her brothers-in-law Brian Richmond and Aaron Joyner, her
father- and mother-in-law, Gary and Cynthia Reese, her aunts Pennie Clark and Diane Seuss, her uncle Vic Bella Jr., her cousin, Dylan Seuss-Brakeman, her nieces Claire Joyner, Ella Richmond, and Lilly Richmond, her nephews O’rion Tweedy and Elliot Joyner, and her grandmother, Norma Seuss. Preceding her in death were her grandmother Mildred (Babe) Bella, her grandfather Vic Bella Sr., her grandfather Robert Seuss, and her cousin, Sean Kelly.
To honor Emily’s passion for education and the kindness she shared with others, in lieu of flowers the family invites donations to help establish the Emily Grontkowski Memorial Scholarship Fund. This lasting tribute will support students pursuing a career in teaching. Memorial contributions may be sent to Niles Community Schools, 1 Tyler St., Niles, MI 49120. Please indicate that the donation is for the Emily Grontkowski Memorial Scholarship Fund. True to her generosity of spirit, Emily was an organ donor. In this way, and in the memories of all who loved her, she will live on. A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.
Memories and photos of Emily may be shared with her family at www.BrownFuneralHomeNiles.com.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Brown Funeral Home & Cremation Services.
Posted On: Thursday, November 20, 2025 4:05 PM
