Rural mail carrier, mystery writer, St. Benedict Abbey congregant
Laura Grace. (Courtesy photo)
Dorothea Ann “Laura” (Campbell) Grace, 79, of 112 Park Ave., Athol, and formerly of Harvard, died Wednesday, April 25, 2018, at home after a lengthy illness.
She was born in New York, New York, Sept. 2, 1938, the daughter of the late William H. and Dorothy R. (Lally) Campbell.
Laura graduated from Bassick High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with the Class of 1956. She aced the English section of the SAT. She attended the University of Connecticut, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1960. She worked tirelessly for the U.S. Postal Service as a rural carrier in Littleton for 40 years.
She was an amazing woman, retiring from that profession at age 77. She attended Mass at St. Benedict Abbey in Still River. Laura loved murder mystery novels, became an accomplished author of mysteries herself under the pseudonym Ann Campbell, and wrote the Annie O’Hara and Claudius series. She took pleasure in gardening. An avid animal lover, she loved her dachshunds, Sophie and Reilly, and her cat, Bingley. She was a selfless woman who devoted her time to helping the disabled.
She leaves one daughter, Heather Grace-Ratcliffe, and her husband, Shaun Ratcliffe, of Athol; three sons, Randolph Grace and his fiancée, Anna, of New Zealand, Kevin Grace and his wife, Joanne, of Dracut, and Nicholas Grace and Joseph Gunawan of Washington, D.C.; 11 grandchildren, Christina Grace, Laura Grace, Daniel Grace, Louis Grace, Aaron Grace, Brian Grace, Chris Grace, Ray Grace, Jimmy Parker, Christene Parker, and Yohanna Dion; several great-grandchildren; one sister, Heather Godette, and her husband, Bill, of Florida; and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 5, 2018, at 10 a.m. in the Fiske-Murphy & Mack Funeral Home, 110 New Athol Road, Orange. Burial will be private at a later date.
Calling hours will be held Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284 or via www.dana-farber.org/gift.
