Grace L. Shea

WORCESTER-Grace L. Shea of 5 Westwood Drive, Worcester, died peacefully on January 4, 2016 at the VNA Care Network Rose Monahan Hospice Residence in Worcester.


She was born in Worcester on August 12, 1921, the fifth of seven children born to the late Timothy S. and Theresa C. Shea, both of Worcester. After graduating from Classical High School, she earned a bachelor's degree from Simmons College, majoring in home economics. She taught in the City of Worcester public school system for many years before being appointed director of the home economics department, the position she held for over a decade.


Grace is survived by three siblings, Ruth M. Shea of Worcester, with whom she lived for many, many years, Richard Shea of Harwichport, Massachusetts, and his wife Frances (Murphy) and Alice Hanlon of Pompton Plains, New Jersey, wife of the late Joseph Hanlon, along with a host of nieces and nephews who adored her. She was predeceased by a sister Helen E. Cosgrove (wife of the late Dr. James F. Cosgrove) and two brothers, William T. Shea, late husband of Irene (Fahey) Shea, and Robert T. Shea (husband of the late Margaret Garrity Shea), all of Worcester.


Grace was possessed of great generosity of mind and spirit, throughout her long life helping anyone who needed a helping hand or a little guidance, including members of her family, friends, students and young people of every kind, asking nothing in return. A devoted Catholic, faithful daughter of the Blessed Virgin Mary and longtime member of Immaculate Conception Parish, Grace was also an Appalachian Club member well into her 80's, and a dedicated outdoors enthusiast with special interest in skiing, hiking and educational travel to diverse destinations throughout the world. In her youth she worked in her father's drugstore, Hastings, in Worcester. She had a lifelong love of and enthusiasm for the family residence in Rye, New Hampshire.


She, with her sister Ruth, was the family historian, a repository of all facts and lore great and small, and took genuine pleasure in introducing her young nieces and nephews to people and places of special interest. For many years she and Ruth cared for their mother to the age of 99. She was a source of great comfort for, and a great inspiration to, the entire family and her many friends, each of whom believes that if only they could live life half as well as Grace theirs would be a life well-lived.


The family wishes to extend its heartfelt thanks all who provided Grace with such loving care in her last years and days, including the remarkably gifted Jim Bissell, her primary care physician Gary Blanchard and his assistant Ashley Estabrook, the nurses and staff of St. Vincent's hospital and the VNA hospice caregivers.

The funeral will be held on Friday, January 8 from CALLAHAN FAY & CASWELL Funeral Home, 61 Myrtle Street with a Mass at 11:00 AM at Immaculate Conception Church, 353 Grove Street. Burial will follow at St. John's Cemetery. A visiting hour will also be held on Friday from 9:30-10:30 AM in the funeral home.


In lieu of flowers contributions may be made in Grace's memory to the VNA Care Network and Hospice, 120 Thomas St., Worcester, MA 10608.