Melissa Ann Grant Dietz

Melissa Ann Grant Dietz left this world on May 6, 2026, to share her beauty, grace, knowledge, and humor with all her loved ones who passed on before her. She was born in Bryan, Texas on June 2, 1952. She was brought up in Austin by loving parents Davis Grant and Kathryn Ann Grant, both now deceased.

Her public school education was received at Highland Park Elementary, Lamar Junior High School (now Middle School) and A.N. McCallum High School.  She initially attended the University of Texas at Austin, and also traveled to study for a year at the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico. Upon returning to Texas, she enrolled in and obtained her BBA in Accounting from Southwestern University.  She later enrolled in and received her Juris Doctorate from St. Mary’s Law School. 

Very soon thereafter she became a pivotal member of the staff of the Williamson County Attorney.  She and her husband moved to Georgetown in 1983 and became valued and active members of Williamson County Bar Association.  After leaving the County Attorney’s office, she opened a private practice and officed with two seasoned, colorful and legendary attorneys.  Later she joined her husband, Mark Dietz, in practicing law at the Round Rock firm of Dietz and Jarrard PC until her retirement in 2018. 

In the midst of her busy life, in 1989 Duke Grant Dietz came into their life who was such a joy and blessing for her.

As a young girl she was told that there was nothing she could not do.  She set out to prove it, particularly to men.  Anything that they could do she could do equally well or better.  Case in point: while taking a break from college she trained and became the first female technical representative for Xerox in Texas.

Her skills and talents were numerous.  She was an artist and seamstress whose knowledge of color was unmatched. Those talents were put to use in every home she undertook as a project in San Antonio, Georgetown, Lake Travis, and Santa Fe. Her creative skills included jewelry making, woodworking, interior design, electrical and stained glass. 

Melissa loved to go fast whether she was on the water, on land, or in the air. She was on a slalom ski often on Lake Austin in the afternoon after work at Xerox.  She and Mark skied the Double Black Diamond snow slopes throughout the west on family ski trips. She sailed Lake Travis in three of the boats that Mark and Melissa docked on Lake Travis. They sailed offshore in the Caribbean with her Uncle John and Diane Orr. She attended Coast Guard Auxiliary classes and was ultimately a certified Navigator.  

She and Mark shared a love of the exotic and beautiful automobiles which resided in their garages:  BMWs, Mercedes, they drove, but her favorite make were the Porsches which she custom ordered. When Mark bought a BMW Airhead Motorcycle, she would not be outdone.  She got her license and bought and rode her “white girly Harley Fatboy”. They rode together throughout Texas and the Southwest. Together, they toured the Alps on BMWs for 10 days. 

When Mark said he was going to start flying again, she said “not without me at the controls.”  She became an instrument-rated pilot. They flew their Bonanza regularly to New Mexico to go to the family cabin in the Pecos Wilderness. When Melissa said she was tired of chopping wood and using an outhouse, they bought their first home in downtown Santa Fe. She loved the city and her many friends there. 

Over the last 14 years she would leave in May and return in September, allowing Mark to come visit her in their home on a stunning ridgetop overlooking the city. When there she became a proficient and knowledgeable collector of arts and craft of the Southwest.  The collections decorated their homes in Texas and New Mexico. 

She loved to travel.  She toured five continents, and often returned to Australia to visit her brother in Sydney and Melbourne. Their trips often led to vineyards where they shared their love of wine.

Melissa was charming and beautiful in a gown as a Gala Chair, but she preferred to be in her gardens with her hands in the soil from which she produced bountiful fruits, vegetables, and beautiful flowers, usually a dog was at her side, most often terriers. Although the Norfolk, “Tattoo”, was her favorite, it was the Irish, “Rowdy”, that she squired to champion. 

Melissa was funny, feisty, and a colorful conversationalist. She did not suffer fools gladly.  But one could have no better friend or relative who enjoyed the clothes, stained glass, and jewelry she made for those lucky ones.

A severe genetic disorder manifested itself in early 2025 and quickly progressed. taking most of what is described above as her joys.  Thereafter was not a good time for her. The final blessing, however, was that Melissa passed peacefully with Mark, as always, by her side.

Melissa leaves behind to remember her well, her husband, R. Mark Dietz, son, D. Grant Dietz, three remaining siblings, Kathey Grant Pendleton and husband, John, John Bassett Grant and wife Carol, Richard Bruce Grant, III and wife, Anita, and sister-in-law, Debbie Demmer Grant.  On the Grant side are three nieces and five nephews, and 11 great nieces and nephews.  She also leaves behind her mother-in-law, Louise Dietz, sister-in-law Carole Domogala and her husband Dan, brother-in-law Steve Dietz and wife Barbara, and sister-in-law, Theresa Dietz.  On the Dietz side there are four nieces and two great nephews.

We wish to thank Berta Monte, her caregiver for the last year, the caring staff at Georgetown Nursing and Tranquility Hospice .  Remembrances may be given in her name to the Southwestern University Scholarship Fund or the YMCA of Central Texas. A celebration of life will be held at Camp Briteside in Georgetown, Texas the evening of May 31, 2026.