Grace Estelle Yearwood was born October 5, 1903 at Clarksville, Arkansas; daughter of Walter L. Yearwood and Effie E. Cox Yearwood. She was about 12 years old when her mother died in 1915. Because she was the oldest daughter, she stopped school at the 8th grade to keep house for the family and care for the younger children.
She briefly married first about 1919 to Lester W. North; the 1920 census shows them living in Stamford, Texas. However, in 1921 Grace Estelle Yearwood North began working as housekeeper for Mr. and Mrs. John A. Hunt in Poteau, Oklahoma.
During a smallpox epidemic in Poteau, Mrs. Mary Catherine Cook Hunt died of the disease on January 4, 1922. During the epidemic Grace Estelle Yearwood (Mrs. North) was quarantined in the home with the Hunt family, was exposed to smallpox, and witnessed the death of Mary Catherine Cook Hunt.
Approximately a year later, Grace Estelle Yearwood North married John A. Hunt. They lived first in Poteau and then in Sallisaw, then Page, and finally in Talihina where they reared their children. Eight of the nine children of Grace and John Hunt grew to maturity and attended high school in Talihina.
Grace Estelle Yearwood Hunt was a talented singer and pianist. It is known in the family that she once played music for silent movies.
She was a member of First Baptist Church of Talihina and participated in activities of the various women's groups, attended all worship services--occasionally playing piano for the services, and often had the pastor as guest for Sunday dinner with the family.
On December 15, 1951, Grace Hunt became a widow at age 48 when John A. Hunt died of natural causes. Mrs. Hunt remained in her home at Talihina and worked at the public schools until 1958 when she moved to Pampa, Texas, to live with the family of her son. In years to follow, she was to live with family members in McAllen, Texas; San Diego, California; Bisbee, Arizona; and finally, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In October 1981 Grace Estelle Yearwood Hunt was living with her daughter in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, when she suffered a stroke. She was hospitalized for about four week before she died November 18, 1981. Her funeral was conducted in Oklahoma City with grave side services at the Elmwood Cemetery. She is interred near her husband, several of her children, and one grandchild.