GRACE MCCAW

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GRACE MCCAW October 2, 1927 - December 4, 2017 Grace G. McCaw passed away peacefully, in her sleep, in the early hours of December 4 at her home in Los Angeles. Born in Winnipeg in 1927, she was part of a close family of 11, the daughter of Daniel J. Linney and Edith G. Grant (nee Langton). She lived for 45 years in Bloomfield, NJ, before moving to Los Angeles, CA in 2006 to be with her surviving daughter, Joanie McCaw. She also leaves behind two of six brothers, Robert Linney and wife Pat, and Raymond Grant and wife Joyce, sister-in-law Norma Linney, one of two sisters, Bernice Blakeman, and many nieces and nephews. She was also considered "Grandma Grace" to several children. Her husband, W. Ralph McCaw, passed away many years ago, in 1992. She suffered the loss of two children, Danny in 1998 and Sharon in 2006, as well as the loss of brothers and sisters-in-law Charlie and Dorothy Grant, Gordon and Doris Grant, John and Mae Linney, Bruce Linney, and also sister Edith Miller and brother-in-law Alex Miller. She was an incredibly loving, supportive and involved mother of her three children, and enjoyed reading, gardening and baking. She took every opportunity to help and be of service to others and her career reflected that, with about 20 years in each of her three professions - Nurse and Nurse Educator in Manitoba, Ontario, and New Jersey, Teacher in Nutley, NJ and Reading Specialist in Bloomfield, NJ. The McCaw family spent a year in Reading, England during a teaching sabbatical for Ralph in 1970-1971, and travelled to Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland during the school breaks before returning to New Jersey via the German ship Europa. The family travelled Canada many summers, to be sure the children got to spend time with their relatives across the country, and Grace also journeyed to Scandinavia and Portugal in her later years. Grace was always thrilled to have her home in New Jersey play host to relatives of all ages travelling to visit her and to experience New York City. Grace volunteered often, with the St. James Episcopal Church in Upper Montclair, NJ soup kitchen and gardening group, with Head Start New Jersey, and with the Muscular Dystrophy Association New Jersey, and was part of the groundbreaking Nurse's Health Study at Harvard Medical School for the past 40 years. She was quick to send over a homemade cake to welcome a new neighbour, or to host a "coffee klatch" for them to meet all the neighbours on Demarest Avenue. A memorial celebration of her life was held in Los Angeles on December 17. In lieu of flowers, please make a contribution to ALZ.org or volunteer somewhere in your community to make the world a better place, as she would have wanted.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Dec 23, 2017