Adele Elizabeth Graham Grace died peacefully on Saturday, July 3, 2004 at Colonial Oaks Braeswood in Houston, Texas at 88 years of age. She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on July 15, 1915, the third and youngest daughter of Ethel Anderson Graham and Thomas Peter Graham. She is predeceased by her parents, her husband, Harold S. Grace, Sr., and sisters, Helen Graham Carrico, and Ethel Mary Graham McCue.
Adele combined a love and dedication to her family with a deep devotion to her faith. She moved to Beaumont in 1949 with her husband, Harold S. Grace, Sr. and their children and for 50 of the intervening years resided at 2669 Broadway, attending 6:00 a.m. daily mass at St. Anne’s Catholic Church. She was a member of the Agredas, a small group of ladies who together attended Saturday morning mass every week and prayed for religious vocations. For many years she was a member of the Altar Society, a sponsor in the Right of Christian Initiation program and she served as a teacher in the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program. She was also part of a group of St. Anne’s ladies who visited the sick in area hospitals, and she volunteered her time at “Some Other Place”, preparing and serving lunches to the needy. Recently, she and her children donated their Broadway home to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital.
She is survived by her four children: Harold Stephen Grace, Jr. and wife, Klair of Houston, Texas; Mary Adele Grace and husband, David N. Phelan of Boulder, Colorado; Pamela Ann Grace Regnier, and husband, Francis C. Regnier of Paris, France; and Virginia Elizabeth (Ginger) Grace and husband, David Y. Rosenstock, of New York, New York. Also, her loving grandchildren: Phebe Michelle Grace and Harold Stephen Grace, III, of Houston, Texas; James Michael Phelan of New York, New York; John Daniel Phelan of Los Angeles, California; and Isabelle Grace Regnier and Jean-Louis Harold Regnier of Paris, France, and step grandchildren, Louis Michael Gershen and Mallory Elizabeth Gershen of Houston.
The family extends their heartfelt thanks to the staff at Colonial Oaks Braeswood for their loving care and to the nuns at St. Vincent de Paul for their faithful visits.
Visitation will begin at 5:30 pm on Thursday, July 8, 2004 with a rosary being recited at 6:30 p.m. at Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin, Beaumont, Texas. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 am on Friday, July 9, 2004 at St. Anne Catholic Church, Beaumont, Texas with burial to follow at Magnolia Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be Harold Stephen Grace, III, James Michael Phelan, John Daniel Phelan, Jean-Louis Harold Regnier, the grandsons of Adele Grace. They will be joined by her sons-in-law, David N. Phelan and David Y. Rosenstock.
Donations may be made in memory of Adele Graham Grace to the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, 1307 Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70115.
