Grace Gipson Maud

Grace Gipson Maud passed away on Dec. 7, 2025. She was born Grace Ann Huddleston on Feb. 25, 1935, in Batesville, Arkansas, the only child of Charles Theodore Huddleston and Raye Dean (Travis) Huddleston. She was raised in Batesville and nearby Sulphur Rock, graduating from Batesville High School in 1952, afterward earning a BA from Ouachita Baptist College in 1956. In September 1956 she married Jerry Neal Gipson, he was in the Navy and they were stationed in Charleston SC and San Diego CA. Their three children (Jerry, Jon, Nancy) were born during this time. At the beginning of 1962, they moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico. After her children were older Grace collected and sold antiques, and also started doing interior design work, which led over time to starting her own business, Interiors By Grace. In 1981 Grace and Jerry moved to Batesville, she continued to run her business there until Jerry's untimely death in 1989. In 1990 she moved back to Las Cruces and shortly after to El Paso, Texas. There she continued to do interior design and then met Peter Maud, a professor at UTEP. They were married in 1994. Grace and Peter, along with Peter's two children (Philip, Hailey) lived in El Paso, then Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 2002 moving back to Las Cruces. Grace re-established her interior design business and worked with a large clientele in the region. Peter passed away in 2017, and in 2020 Grace moved to Texas to be closer to her family.

Grace will be remembered as a mother who encouraged her children to be independent, educated, and self- reliant, as a dear friend to the many, many people she met on her journeys, as an in- demand interior designer and successful businesswoman, and as a person who always pushed ahead even when life presented difficulties.

Grace was preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Raye Huddleston, first husband Jerry Gipson, second husband Peter Maud, and son-in-law Chuck Wielgus. She is survived by her children, Jerry (Elisabeth), Jon (Lori), and Nancy, step-children Philip (Jill) and Hailey, fourteen grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.