Obituary of Grace Culbertson

Grace Jessie Kirby Culbertson, 97 ½, passed away on Sunday, March 13, 2016 at her home in Harding, NJ. Grace Jessie lived a long, interesting life, spunky to her last days. Born November 1918 to Marian Southerland Kirby and Allan Price Kirby, Grace grew up living half her school years in Palm Beach, the other half in Wilkes-Barre, PA. She graduated from Garland Jr College and Webber Jr College, one of the nation's first business schools for women. She worked as a sou-chef at the Boston Statler Hotel. She was the rare woman allowed into the Bonaventure Salmon Club on the Grand Cascapedia, Canada due to her record 38 lb. kill. While in Boston she met the love of her life, John Harrison Culbertson, of Scranton, PA and married him in 1941 at a spectacular garden wedding in Glen Summit, PA. The handsome couple lived in New York City, where Grace worked as a trader for William Blair & Co. They moved to Washington DC while John trained for the Navy and later at Notre Dame, Indiana, where the Navy had established a College Training Program on the South Bend campus. Here too, she was one of the few women on campus. John returned from the South Pacific as a Lt. Commander. They moved permanently to Harding Township, NJ joining her parents and siblings. Here they raised three children; Marian, Katie and Jack. In her more than 70 years in Harding, she was a member of the Morris County Golf Club, and the Morristown Field Club. She was an excellent tennis player and played a competitive game of bridge. Grace volunteered at The Veterans Hospital, Lyons, NJ, and at Morristown Memorial Hospital, NJ. She was on the board of the American University of Cairo, Egypt, the Kirby Episcopal House, Glen Summit, PA, The F M Kirby Foundation, and the Bronx Zoo, The Bronx, NY. She also had been active with the Junior League of Morristown. Among other philanthropic efforts, she has donated and furnished a period room in her grandparents' house, now part of Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, PA. In the mid 1960s Grace and John bought a house in Sea Island, GA, where they had honeymooned 25 years earlier. There she was active with the Sea Island Club, and the Sea Island Garden Club. She enjoyed travel; over the years some of her remarkable trips were around South America and around the Mediterranean and then around the world!! Her husband predeceased her in 1989; and her son in 2014. She is survived by her two daughters, Marian C Burke, and Katharine C Prentice, and seven grandchildren who will remember her as a spirited, independent, person. We will miss her more than we now realize. Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, March 19, 2016, 11:00am at The First Presbyterian Church, 2 Lees Hill Rd, New Vernon, NJ 07976. Burial will be at The New Vernon Cemetry. In lieu of flowers please donate to: Homeless Solutions, Inc., 540 West Hanover Avenue, Suite 100, Morristown, NJ 07960 or Morristown Memorial Hospital Health Foundation, P.O. Box 1956, Morristown, NJ 07962-1956. For further information please contact Gallaway and Crane Funeral Home at 908-766-0250, or to light and online condolence candle please visit our website at www.gcfuneralhome.com