1928 - 2023
OBITUARY
Grace McQuade
December 2, 1928-January 29, 2023
Grace McQuade (nee McSherry) was born on December 2, 1928 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Irish immigrant parents, Patrick and Lillian McSherry.
The family moved to Sunnyside, Queens when Grace was very young. A middle child, she had an older sister Margaret and younger brother John.
Grace attended St. Teresa’s Catholic school located right across its cobblestone courtyard from her home. As a young girl, she loved ballet and musical theatre. Her most memorable role was playing the Scarecrow in her school’s dance performance of The Wizard of Oz.
As a teenager, Grace swooned over Frank Sinatra and dreamed of becoming a Radio City Rockette. She attended Blessed Sacrament High School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for two years and finished up at St. Vincent Ferrer on the Upper East Side.
Grace’s first job was with book publisher G.P. Putnam’s Sons. She always had fond memories working with recent Harvard graduate Walter J. Minton, who was being groomed to take over the company from his father. Forty years later, Grace’s daughter would pursue a career in the same field.
Grace married her childhood crush, Eddie McQuade, in April of 1949. Their newlywed years included a Niagara Falls getaway and an overnight train down to balmy Miami Beach.
Grace and Eddie were married for 69 years until his death in 2018 and had two children, namesakes Edmund and Grace.
Grace became a stay-at-home mom and was always involved in her children’s educations. Now living in nearby Woodside, she often volunteered in the St. Sebastian school library and its busy athletic and social Center.
In 1978, the McQuade family moved to New Hyde Park and joined Notre Dame Parish, where they went to many Irish-themed dances and school events for their daughter during those years.
Grace began to work in data entry for Chemical Bank in 1979. The company eventually merged with Chase Manhattan Bank and would become J.P. Morgan Chase. She retired ten years later with a nice pension and retirement benefits.
In the summer of 1989, Grace took her first plane ride to Ireland, a surprise 40th wedding anniversary gift from her sister, brother and their spouses. She survived the flight and loved Ireland, but their subsequent sibling trips were bus tours of Canada and New England.
Grace and Eddie enjoyed their retirement years with family vacations to places up north (the Catskills, Adirondacks and Martha’s Vineyard) and down south (Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head and Nags Head in the Carolinas).
They treasured watching their son and daughter-in-law Patti’s three children, Edmund, Jr., Peter and Claire grow up, particularly during summers spent at the Sun and Surf Beach Club in Atlantic Beach.
Grace and Eddie also loved visiting their daughter Grace during her many years living in Manhattan, often going out to dinner, shopping and strolling through Central Park and other city sites.
A homebody at heart, Grace’s pastimes in her later years included doing crossword puzzles every day, rooting for the New York Mets and watching many Hallmark movies… she loved happy endings.
Yet the parting between Dorothy and her Scarecrow from one of Grace’s close childhood memories was bittersweet in the end. “I think I’ll miss you most of all,” Dorothy weeps before returning home from Oz.
In a similar sentiment, Grace’s children and loved ones will truly miss her until they all meet again in that special Somewhere…
VISITATION
Thursday, February 2
4:00 - 8:00 PM
New Hyde Park Funeral Home
506 Lakeville Road, New Hyde Park, NY
MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL
Friday, February 3
9:15 AM
Notre Dame R.C. Church
45 Mayfair Road, New Hyde Park, NY
INTERMENT
Calvary Cemetery
49-02 Laurel Hill Boulevard, Woodside, NY