Grace Marie Hall Upshaw

1928 - 2025

Just shy of her 97th birthday, native Memphian Grace Marie Hall Upshaw passed away in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. Her family is deeply grateful for the loving care she received from the Trezevant Terrace staff and her devoted team of personal caregivers. There is no love quite like the kind they gave.

Grace's parents, Harry and Grace, and her two older brothers, Henry and Walker, welcomed their little baby girl into their family on August 1, 1928. Her father and brothers were builders and developers who left their fingerprints all over Memphis – from mid-town, to Frayzer and Raleigh.

Grace attended and graduated from St. Mary's School for Girls. She went on to Washington University in St. Louis and later graduated from the University of Alabama, where she reconnected with her future husband, Jefferson D. Upshaw of Louise, Mississippi. After college, Jeff pursued his medical degree at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore while Grace returned to Memphis to begin her career. But distance couldn't keep them apart and in 1953, they married at First Baptist Church in Memphis.
She joined Jeff in Baltimore as he completed medical training, and it was there their children Cristie and Jeff were born. The U.S. Air Force soon sent the young family to Bermuda, where they spent two magical years - years Grace would later describe as "a fairy tale."

When it came time to settle after medical school, the couple decided to land in Memphis. Surrounded by the warm embrace of old friends and family, Grace's life blossomed and her family grew when her son Walker was born, putting an exclamation point on the family. In addition to raising her kids and running her house, she was an active member of the Women's Exchange, the Field and Garden Club, the Tennessee Genealogical Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, and a lifelong member of Pi Beta Phi sorority, just to name a few. She even tried her hand at astronomy thanks to a program through the Planetarium at The Pink Palace Museum.

As her children grew and left the nest, Grace turned her attention to her many standing bridge games, her cherished nine-hole golf group at Chickasaw Country Club, and a lifelong passion for her family's genealogy.

Grace was a Memphis girl through and through. She learned to swim at the 19th Century Club, rode the Cotton Carnival barge as a member of the Court, and took her kids to see Santa Claus at Goldsmith's Enchanted Forest downtown. Most importantly, she taught her children to avoid driving in the right-hand lane of Poplar Avenue between White Station and Highland.

A true Steel Magnolia, she was quick-witted and sharp-tongued, with a dry sense of humor. She was tough as nails when she needed to be, but full of compassion when it was most needed. She didn't hand out sympathy lightly, which made her love and care even more genuine. Her faith, nurtured by her family and years in both the Baptist and Methodist churches, was strong and everlasting.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Harry Milburn Hall and Grace Walker Hall, and by her brothers Seward Henry Hall and Walker Hall.

She is survived by her three children: Cristie Upshaw Travis (Pat) of Memphis; Jeff Upshaw III (Ann) of Atlanta; and Walker Upshaw (Stephanie) of Sylva, North Carolina.

She also leaves behind five beloved grandchildren: Jen Reynolds (Will) of Sewanee, Tennessee; Jeff Upshaw IV (Amanda) of Atlanta, Georgia; Lee Travis of West Hollywood, California; Grace Upshaw of Dallas, Texas; and Hall Upshaw of Birmingham, Alabama; as well as five great-grandchildren: Davis, John, and Grace Upshaw of Atlanta, and Will and Walker Reynolds of Sewanee.

She has many devoted nieces and nephews whose pictures were still sprinkled across her desktop at her passing.

A private graveside service will be held at Memorial Park on Friday, July 11, under the care of Canale Funeral Directors.

Memorial donations may be made to the Trezevant Foundation or the organization of your choice.