NANCY WEBSTER GRADY

GRADY NANCY WEBSTER (FISHER)
A gracious lady who was loved and respected by all who knew her, died on Sunday, May 4, 2014, at Hospice House in Concord, New Hampshire, after a courageous battle with cancer. She was 87 years old. Nancy was born on December 22, 1926, in Boston, MA to Frank G. Webster and Polly Baldwin Webster. Following the Webster's early divorce in 1928, Nancy lived in Honolulu, Hawaii, and on the island of Maui with her mother. Nancy remained connected to Squam Lake during her long summer trips to Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire to visit her father and grandparents, May and Laurence J. Webster. Nancy was May and Laurence's first grandchild and she was very close to them. In those days, the journey from Honolulu to Holderness was a two-week long voyage by boat and train. Nancy moved to the Boston area in 1937 to live near Frank Webster and attended The Winsor School. After graduating from Winsor, she attended Bennington College in Vermont. At the end of World War II, she married Edward Fisher, Jr. and lived in Vermont before moving to Groton, MA. Nancy relocated to Concord, MA following their divorce in 1957. She fell in love with Robert "Bob" E. Grady, an artist who taught anatomy and drawing at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Nancy and Bob were married in 1959 and, during their many years together in Concord, Nancy raised her four sons. She volunteered as chairman of the Associate Counsel, a volunteer branch of The DeCordova Art Museum in Lincoln, MA. After completing a two-year language training course at Boston's Children's Hospital, she became the first tutor to work in the Concord Massachusetts Public School system during the 1960s. Nancy continued teaching in schools located in the Concord area as well as providing educational testing services for children with learning disabilities. Upon her retirement 20 years later, there were 24 remedial reading school tutors working in the Concord Public School system. During this time, Nancy also served as a director on the board of the Gifford School in Weston, a school for learning disabled and autistic children. Nancy and Bob moved north to her family farm in Holderness, NH in 1991 after having summered on Carnes Island on Squam Lake for 40 years. In Holderness, she served as trustee of the Holderness Library and was on the board of Church Yard Cemetery. Nancy was a director and vice president of The Squam Lakes Conservation Society, a land trust founded by her father, Frank Webster, in 1960. Nancy also volunteered at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center and at the Holderness Central School until her husband's illness required her full-time care. At that time, they moved to an apartment at Pleasant View, Concord, where they resided during the winter months. They relocated to her farmhouse on Burleigh Farm during the spring, summer months, and early fall, where her grandchildren and gardens were a source of great joy. Nancy's death was predeceased by her son, Laurence Baldwin Fisher in 1996 and her husband, Robert E. Grady in 2005. Nancy is survived by three sons, Edward Wilson Fisher of Mission, Texas, Timothy Otis Fisher of Pittsburgh, PA, Holderness, NH and Santa Barbara, CA, and Matthew Emmet Grady of Portland, OR. Nancy is also survived by ten grandchildren, Michael Elberg, Brooks Fisher, Matthew Fisher, Lilah Wise, Nina Hamilton, Edward Fisher, Pollyanna Fisher-Pool, Suzanne Fisher, Ryan Grady, Keenan Grady; and nine great-grandchildren; and also her longtime devoted friend, Dr. James Lawton. A Celebration of her Life will be held at Starr King Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship Church on Fairgrounds Road, Plymouth, New Hampshire at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, 2014. There will be no visitation. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in her memory to the Nancy Webster Grady Land Monitoring Fund at the Squam Lakes Conservation Society, P.O. Box 696, Holderness, NH 03245.
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