Arthur L. Gratias (May 1, 1920 – March 6, 2015) was an American politician in the state of

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. Gratias was born in

Nora Springs, Iowa Nora Springs is a city that is partially in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, Cerro Gordo and Floyd County, Iowa, Floyd counties in the U.S. state of Iowa, along the Shell Rock River. The population was 1,369 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, ...

. He attended Wartburg College and the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and grad ...

. He served in the United States Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, for which he received the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 2013. Gratias farmed for 23 years. His career in education included five years of teaching experience and four years as an elementary school principal. Gratias then served 22 years on the school board. He was a member of the

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly, United States. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . ...

from 1979 to 1987, serving the

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

and

15th 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 (number), 14 and preceding 16 (number), 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky ...

districts as a Republican.

References

1920 births 2015 deaths People from Nora Springs, Iowa Military personnel from Iowa Wartburg College alumni University of Northern Iowa alumni Iowa Republicans Farmers from Iowa Educators from Iowa United States Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Legion of Honour Schoolteachers from Iowa American school principals 20th-century American educators School board members in Iowa {{Iowa-politician-stub