Grace Richey, Pioneering Nurse in Saudi Arabia in 1950s, 90
Grace Richey (nee D'Andrea), a vibrant and warm-hearted woman, passed away on Oct. 28, 2011, at age 90.
Friends and relatives are invited to attend a Funeral Mass on Monday at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Montclair, N.J. Interment is at Restland Memorial Park, East Hanover, N.J. Visiting is Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. at Caggiano Memorial, 62 Grove St., Montclair.
Grace graduated from Montclair High School and earned a registered nursing degree from Seton Hall University.
She followed her passion for travel in the early 1950s by accepting employment with ARAMCO Oil Company in Saudi Arabia, where she lived for six years, and met her future husband.
Grace was a key contributor to the building of the first modern hospitals in Saudi Arabia. She broke social barriers by starting the first public clinic for new mothers in the country.
Grace and Paul resided for many years in Clifton, N.J., and she continued her nursing career with Ted Bates Advertising in New York City.
Grace and Paul enjoyed and cared for each other, extended family and friends. She was a courageous person with a keen interest both in the people she loved and the world she shared. Grace will be greatly missed by all those whose lives she touched.
Grace was the devoted wife of 49 years to the late O. Paul Richey, and leaves her sister, Josephine Clarizio (nee D'Andrea); her nieces and nephew, Louise D'Andrea, and Guy and Nancy D'Andrea; her grandnephews, Michael and Christopher, and a cousin, Albert Tizzano.
She was the daughter of the late Thomas and Fiorella (Fealy) D'Andrea and sister of the late Thomas D'Andrea.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center at the following link, http://mskcc.convio.net/goto/gracerichey, would be appreciated.
The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey, USA)