June Riffle Grace

June (Gail) Riffle Grace, 90, died at her Concord, MA home surrounded by family on Saturday, May 20, 2023. Born June 29, 1932, in Pittsburgh, PA to Paul Carlton and Margaret (Mansfield) Riffle, June was the oldest of two children. Her husband of 68 years, Lloyd F. (Buck) Grace, sister, Polly Riffle Walter, and brother-in-law, John David Grace, predeceased her. Beloved wife of Buck, the couple married August 25, 1954, and raised three children, Lynn (Frances) Grace Kaufman, Joanne Margaret Grace and Francis Paul Grace. In addition to her three children, June is survived by brothers-in-law, Donald Walter and Harold Lee Yoho, sons-in-law Nathan Stephen Kaufman and Timothy Mark Burgess, daughter-in-law Julie Michelle (Dahlberg) Grace, eight grandchildren:  Amanda Gail (Kaufman) Melsek and husband Matthew John Melsek, Matthew Evan Kaufman and wife Katey Lorene (Durham) Kaufman, Margaret Mansfield Burgess and husband Zachary Shane Malone, Foster Neil Burgess and his wife Elizabeth Beckley Fowler, Samuel Lloyd Burgess and wife Maia Lerner Dunlap, Grace Clara Burgess, Renée Michelle Grace, Cole Nathan Grace, and eight great-grandchildren. 

June was a public health nurse for the city of Pittsburgh after graduating with a BS from University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. Meeting Buck on a blind date while in school, the couple married, settling in several suburban Pittsburgh neighborhoods with their children before moving to Concord, MA in 1971. Vivacious and engaging, June’s interests in writing, music, spirituality, gardening, and reading inspired pursuits ranging from singing in church choirs, playing flute in community bands in both Pittsburgh and Concord, publishing articles in magazines such as RN Journals, to teaching Sunday school and hosting prayer meetings that met weekly for decades. 

After the move to Concord, June worked for 10 years with the Sudbury Public Health Nursing Association as a school nurse and eventually as the Executive Director. Earning an MS from Boston University School of Nursing, she then worked for 5 years with the Visiting Nurse Association of the South Shore, followed by 13 years with the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of Central Massachusetts as the VP of Planning and Development. In this capacity, she was instrumental in opening Central Massachusetts’ first impatient hospice, The Rose Monahan Hospice Home.

In line with her career emphasis on serving the community, for decades June has devoted thousands of hours to the Concord Rotary and the Concord Band, and it has been a labor of love for both organizations. Recently receiving ‘Service above Self’, the highest award given by Rotary International, June was honored for her dedication to promote two Rotary global grants in Haiti and Kenya along with having shared her skills as an active volunteer, club webmaster, public relations and social media chair and volunteer extraordinaire for club fundraisers.

Travels to visit and vacation with family from coast to coast, trips on trains, domestically and abroad, and several International Rotary Conventions highlighted her later decades. 

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember June in a private celebration later this summer.

Donations can be made in June’s memory to The Rotary Club of Concord MA: https://www.rotaryclubofconcord.org/