Grace was born in 1897. She was the daughter of George Dawson and Blanche Deane. Grace attended school fifty seven in Queens, New York, USA, where she graduated on 27 June 1911.
Grace had three husbands" 1. "Walter" 2. "Baker" and 3. Robert J. Olmsted. Details of her first two marriages remain sparse but Grace's relatives understood that they both ended in divorce. This may be confirmed or refuted with further research. Since living relatives remember "Uncle Robert," more details about him will be described below.
Robert made his fortune in California real estate. As a result, Grace and Robert always lived in nice places. One was Palm Springs, where they had a swimming pool. Another was on Balmer Drive in Los Angeles. Their last home together was in a retirement community called "Liesure World" in Laguna Hills, California, USA, where they lived in the 1960s and early 1970s. Their neice, Lucille Dawson Ceruti, and nephew, Raymond Irvine Dawson, Jr. visited the Olmsteds in their varous homes over the years.
Robert loved exciting sports. When they owned a Tahiti ketch (pictured) in Los Angeles, he enjoyed sailing to Santa Catalina Island. Grace did not especially like sailing but went along to please Robert because she knew it meant so much to him. Robert walked with a limp due to injuries sustained a motorcycle accident. Robert Olmsted, passed away in Laguna Hills, CA in 1973.
Grace was very active in the Christian Science Church. After Robert passed away, she moved to the Arden Wood Christian Science retirement, rest, and study facility in San Francisco, located near the intersection of West Portal Blvd. and Wawona St. It is a large, beautiful building designed in the style of a French chateau, perhaps similar in some ways to the mansion that her aristocratic ancestor, John Cushier, must have inhabited during his early childhood in Bordeaux, France.
Her nieces and nephew attended her 100th birthday party at the Arden Wood. Pictured here from left to right: Dr. Marion Grace Ceruti, grand niece; Mr. Raymond Irvine Dawson, Jr, Esq. nephew; and Mrs. Lucille Bird Dawson Ceruti, nice.
Aunt Grace passed away from complications associated with a broke hip, several months after her 100th birthday in 1997. Grace had no children but she is remembered by her nieces and nephews as a kind and spiritual lady who was very generous to her relatives. An observation of Raymond Irvine Dawson, Jr., her nephew, was that Grace would never go anywhere without her earrings. Grace's estate contained books by and about Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, and lots of pairs of earrings.
This week's featured connections are Redheads: Grace is 19 degrees from Catherine of Aragón, 18 degrees from Clara Bow, 27 degrees from Julia Gillard, 17 degrees from Nancy Hart, 14 degrees from Rutherford Hayes, 18 degrees from Rita Hayworth, 18 degrees from Leonard Kelly, 22 degrees from Rose Leslie, 21 degrees from Damian Lewis, 18 degrees from Maureen O'Hara, 25 degrees from Jopie Schaft and 35 degrees from Eirik Thorvaldsson on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
D > Dawson | O > Olmsted > Grace Valentine (Dawson) Olmsted
Categories: Centenarians