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Grace Anne Stewart (1893-1970) was born on a farm in Manitoba. She came from Scottish origins as her Great Grandfather, James Stewart, moved to Canada from Perth as a result of rich landowners taking over cattle grazing land. Her great grandfather settled in Ontario while her grandfather decided to settle on a farm in Manitoba. This is where Grace grew up. In 1918, Grace reached the B.A at the University of Alberta, becoming the first woman in geology to do so at the school. From 1918 to 1920, Grace worked in the Department of Geology as an assistant and her skills started to become recognized. Once she graduated she moved to Chicago to get her Ph.D. During this time, she did lots of work with world renowned palaeontologist, Stuart Waller. She started her professional work in 1919 where she worked for the Research Council of Alberta, before moving to the Geological Survey of Canada in 1921. Upon recommendations from her professors at the University of Chicago, Grace was offered a job as an instructor at Ohio State University. She worked as a professor for 31 years and became deeply involved in the Faculty Woman's Group, becoming a mentor and a highly influential figure for many people at the University of Ohio. Grace devoted a majority of her academic career to researching and analyzing Devonian and Silurian fossils. Grace specifically dedicated her studies to microfossils and invertebrates, even getting numerous fossils named after her.

At the University of Ohio, Dr. Stewart began conducting highly detailed and intricate research that began to open the eyes of geologists worldwide. Her research was centred on the idea of medial Paleozoic faunas of Ohio, with a concentration in the Devonian corals, ostracodes, and crinoids. She presented her papers to organizations such as the Paleontological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Ohio Academy of Science. Her coworkers were extremely impressed with her work. Thus, she became appointed as a Fellow of The Geological Society of Alberta, this was a huge honour for her at the time. Dr. Stewart also took part in many Geological Faculty affairs. She often stepped into leadership roles within the department and was an active member of the community. Geology was not the only department she focused on, she participated in other faculties events such as art fairs and university committees. When Grace turned 60 she began to get tired of her work. Therefore, at the age of 61, Dr. Stewart decided to leave Ohio State and move to Tucson, Arizona. Shortly after moving, she was offered a position at the University of Calgary and decided to have another go at her work in Geology. At the University of Calgary, she specialized in the correlation of fossils to geographic areas of land. This helped geologists see areas of land as a "whole field" rather then just an assortment of random fossils. Grace did not like the cold winters of Alberta, so her tenure in Calgary did not last long before moving back to Arizona.

In 1959, the then forthcoming McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology offered Dr.Stewart the opportunity to write an article on the Devonian period, Grace specialized in the Devonian period when she worked at the University of Ohio. Grace wrote an article which included rock types and their significance, physical and historical aspects of the Devonian Period, and many other evolutionary features from this time period. She collaborated with other experts in the field to write the most accurate depiction of the Devonian period to date. This was a revolutionary article at the time, since it was the first time a logical, insightful, and accurate depiction of the Devonian period had been created.

Grace suffered a stroke in March 1969, which caused her to be placed in a nursing home where she eventually passed away. Her death marked the end of an illustrious and devoted professional career in Geology, signified by her work with the Devonian Period and her contributions to the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia. Grace's contributions have made her one of the most well recognized female geologists of her time.