Grace A. Warner died on Saturday, Feb. 14. She was born in Brooklyn to Margaret M. (Fitzpatrick) and George H. Warner and grew up in Queens. She moved to Great Neck in 1966 and lived in Manhasset for the past 40 years.
Grace graduated from Cathedral High School in Manhattan, received her B.A. (1940) and her M.A. (1945) from Hunter College. She went on to receive her Professional Diploma from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1953.
Grace began her teaching career at School #5 in Oceanside, NY in 1941 and then went on to be a sixth grade demonstration teacher at SUNY Buffalo, at that time known as State Teachers College in Buffalo. She began her thirty-five year tenure in the Great Neck Public Schools in the old Arrandale School in 1949, and then on to the new Saddle Rock School when it opened in 1950 as a fifth or sixth grade teacher. Life Magazine did a nine and a half page article on her class in its November 17, 1952, issue entitled “The Sixth Grade.” In 1961 she became the Assistant in Curriculum at the Elizabeth M. Baker School, and in 1962 became the Principal of the old Arrandale School and served there until the new John F. Kennedy School opened in 1965 when she became its first Principal, retiring from that school in 1984.
Her summers were spent for several years as a demonstration teacher at different universities, including Wisconsin University, Syracuse University and Harvard University.
Grace was predeceased by her beloved nephew Robert W. Warner, Sr. (Dolores) and her dear niece, Maureen A. Bearman (Glenn) of Banning, CA. She is survived by her nephew George M. Warner, Jr. (Louise) and her niece Gail A. McDevitt, and by five grand-nieces and nephews, as well as by ten
great-grand nieces and nephews,
all of whom were very close and
dear to her.
Grace also leaves many dear and close friends and former colleagues. For the past several years she has served as the corresponding secretary for the Retired Chapter of the Great Neck Teachers Association.
Her wake will be held at the Fairchild Funeral Home in Manhasset on Friday, Feb. 20, from 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Manhasset on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Calvary Cemetery in Queens.
