FAIRFIELD, VT — Grace Janet Fletcher Pipes passed peacefully in her sleep on 12 March 2021.
Born in Long Branch, NJ on September 10th, 1935, Grace led a long and bountiful life. She was the youngest child in a family of seven siblings.
After she completed her baccalaureate degree at Western Maryland College, she married the Rev. Dr. Buddy R. Pipes in 1957. Buddy predeceased Grace.
She is survived by their three children; James David Pipes, and his wife Kirstin and their son Brendan; Daniel Fletcher Pipes, his wife Mary and their daughters, Hattie and Ellen; and Miriam Janet Pipes, her husband Jed James, and her children Justin, Jessica, Emily, and Barret.
Grace earned a Master’s degree in Education in 1971. She taught high school English for over thirty years in several states, retiring from Woodlawn HS in Baltimore county, Maryland in 1994.
After retirement, she and Buddy moved to West Barnet, Vermont and spent years entertaining friends and family. Grace had a passion for travelling. She visited both poles, the Galapagos’ islands, Scandinavia, Europe, China, South America, and many other destinations. She and Buddy delighted in a tradition of taking their grandkids on a trip to celebrate their 12th birthday.
Grace was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and United Methodist Church for over 60 years, and a congregant in the North Congregational Church and the Dartmouth Unitarian Church. She was confident in her faith.
After 81 years of good health, Grace was afflicted with Lewey Body Dementia. She moved to an assisted living home in ST Albans VT in 2018, and then in May of 2020 joined her son Dan and his wife Mary for hospice care in their home in Fairfield, VT.
In accordance with her wishes, there will be no public services. Those who wish to remember her are encouraged to contribute in her name to an organization that is searching for a cure to this devastating disease. https://www.lbda.org/honor-memorial-gifts/