Catherine Grillo

Catherine Grillo, 71, died on March 12, 2024, in her apartment home of many years, surrounded by the loving presence of friends and members of her Hope House Foundation Princess Anne support team.
She was predeceased by her parents, Benjamin (Biase) Bernard "Bennie" Grillo and Esther Catherine Coppola, and her sister, Eugenia Catherine Grillo.
Cathy was born with Down syndrome, but, blessed by the time and place of her birth, that condition didn't define her adult life.
This because, in 1981, Cathy was welcomed into the brave new world of the Hope House Foundation.
Hope House was founded in 1964, by a group of parents of adult children with disabilities who were seeking an alternative to institutionalization.
A donated home on Granby Street in Norfolk became the first-in-Virginia community-based group home for adults with developmental disabilities.
Over time, Hope House recognized that the people they supported were interested in having more privacy, choice, and individualized interaction with their community, than traditional group homes offered.
By 1988, Hope House made the bold move to begin closing its group homes, to support persons with developmental disabilities in their own residences, in neighborhoods throughout the wider community.
Hope House remains the only organization in Virginia that exclusively supports people with development disabilities living in their own homes -- regardless of their level of disability -- and the only agency that conducts community fundraising activities (such as the spring and fall Stockley Gardens Art Festivals, Shamrockin' in Ghent, the Chelsea West Fest Local Music & Makes, and the Tidewater Blue'z and BBQ) to supplement their publicly funded services.
Cathy was supported by Hope House Foundation for 43 years.
She lived in her own apartment, something that was not and is still not assured for a person with Down syndrome: living in her own place; able to make choices about her everyday life, about things most of us take for granted, such as what color to paint her walls, wearing a tiara if she felt like it, going where she wanted and when she wanted.
Cathy loved dancing, singing, listening to music, and collecting all kinds of things. She was a kindhearted, spunky, loving, and genuine person. She took classes at Old Dominion University, was a long-time participant in programs offered through the Norfolk Recreation Center, and the Louise W. Eggleston Center. She frequently attended the Happy Hour Class for special needs adults during the worship service, a special Sunday school class at the Wesley Grace United Methodist Church, in Wards Corner.
Thanks to Hope House and all these many local resources, Cathy was able to live an "extraordinary ordinary life."
Friends will gather to celebrate a memorial service for Cathy, at 11:00 am, Saturday, March 23, at the Norfolk Chapel of H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments. This will be followed by a reception in Lloyd Hall, at Christ & St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Norfolk. Burial, at St. Mary's Cemetery, Norfolk, will be private.