Virginia H. Grace

Ginny Grace died on February 20 in Thomas Hospital in Fairhope after a heart attack, at age 79. Ginny was born Virginia Kay Hess in Olathe, Kansas on February 2, 1945 to Dean A. Hess, a U.S. Navy pilot, and Janet Greenhalgh Hess. Growing up primarily in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Ginny was a field hockey player and cheerleader, the outset of nearly eight decades of being the prettiest girl in any room she entered. While attending the University of Maryland, she met her future husband George Grace. Ginny worked as a schoolteacher, an interior decorator, and later a real estate agent, raising two sons and managing a household that moved in quick succession to Heidelberg, Germany, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Jamestown NY, Kernersville NC, rural east Texas, suburban Houston, Baton Rouge, and Tuscaloosa. She and George later settled in Fort Morgan, where she established Ginny Grace Real Estate, capping what would become a thirty-year career in property sales.

 After retiring, Ginny moved to Gulf Shores and then Foley and enjoyed her steadily growing extended family and a faithful line of dogs. She remained an active and positive presence, an avid if not relentless smoker, and a ferocious enjoyer of life even as she fought and decisively overcame a battery of health issues. Family and friends gathered in Alabama following a stroke in late 2021, a would-be farewell that Ginny turned into a gala holiday on the beach in Fort Morgan. She proceeded to recover and celebrated Christmas 2022 with yet another branch of family in Thailand and Japan. Her final year was spent in Fairhope, around the corner from her son and grandson, surrounded by new friends and as strong as ever.

 Ginny is survived by her sons Randall and Keith Grace, her grandson Austin Grace, her granddaughters Emi and Ena Miyazaki, her brother Dean A. Hess Jr., her sisters Janet Bello and Mary Brader, and her niece Jill McClellan, as well as an extended family all over the U.S. and the world.