CAPE VINCENT, NY — Norma R.(Chavoustie) Grant, 97, peacefully passed away at her home in Cape Vincent, New York surrounded by family members after a brief fight against cancer on Monday morning, June 6, 2022.
She was born on Jan. 1, 1925, the daughter of Earl C. and Julia Cullen Chavoustie. She grew up in the Chaumont/Three Mile Bay area and accelerated her studies to graduate a year early from Lyme Central School.
Norma married William “Bill” J. Grant on Oct. 27, 1942, in Three Mile Bay, New York. Together they had eleven children and modeled for them the importance of love and family, strong work ethic, and the importance of integrity, determination, and strength.
She worked for various businesses including the Clayton Tent Factory and restaurants, as a cook, including the Cape Vincent Inn. A majority of her work history was at the Sleepy Hollow Restaurant, now Telly’s Inn, in Cape Vincent. She frequently spoke of her fond memories and experiences working for the owners, the Benvenuto family, as she also cared for their summer cottages on Tibbetts Point Rd. In the most recent years, before moving to her East Lake Rd home in Cape Vincent in 1997, she and Bill owned a dairy farm on Valley Rd and prior to that lived and worked on the Robert Purcell farm on Deer Lick Rd. Together they loved their family and worked tirelessly to support and provide for their children. She saw her role as a mother and grandmother as the most important in her life.
Norma is survived by eight children and their spouses: Lawrence (Donna) Grant, Kirk (Robin) Grant, Michael (Beverly) Grant, Deborah (Martin) White, Darren Grant, Richard (Hannah) Grant, all of Cape Vincent. Darlene (Christian) Wiley residing in Watertown; and Mark (Cheri) Grant residing in Brewerton, NY. She is also survived by over sixty grand, great, and great great grandchildren! She was also lovingly known as Aunt Norma and is survived by nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her husband, William J Grant (1995); a son, Jerry (Colleen) Grant (2011); a daughter, Judy Staley (2016); a son, Daryl Grant (1989), a granddaughter, Ashley Grant (2015), and a grandson, Evan Grant (1994) as well as her mother and father and three siblings Francis, Eleanor (Klock), and Charles Chavoustie.
Norma enjoyed flowers, especially her bleeding hearts and peonies flowers and the anticipation of them blooming each Spring as they brought the warm days with them. She enjoyed decorating her home and displaying her craft fair and shopping treasures after careful thought and consideration regarding their placement of each item in her home. She could be found visiting her children and grandchildren at their homes and hearing about their lives and especially enjoyed when people would visit her at home and would always walk her visitors to the door and wave as they left. BINGO at local fire halls were a regular occurrence for Norma but the trips to Turning Stone with family and friends were especially fond memories. The holidays were very important and special to Norma, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. The importance of spending time with family and appreciating each other was the center of these celebrations and she always made them special. To this day, and for years to come, the Grant families celebrate these holidays with a remembrance of Norma and the deep love, thoughtfulness, and celebratory traditions that made these days so very special.
Her smile, her smirk, her laugh, her strength, her guidance and support, her stubborn never say never attitude, her internal fight and perseverance, her quiet mannerisms and ways of saying things without saying them will all be missed but will live on as her legacy through her many family members left here to honor her memory.
Arrangements are with Cleveland Funeral Home, Watertown. A Celebration of Life Ceremony will be held noon Saturday, June 18, 2022, at the Funeral Home, 404 Sherman St. Watertown. A family burial service will be held following the ceremony at Riverside Cemetery in Cape Vincent. A gathering at Telly’s Inn in Cape Vincent will be held from 3 to 5 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Cape Vincent Ambulance Squad, the American Cancer Society or Jefferson County Hospice in Norma’s memory.
Online condolences can be made at ClevelandFHInc.com.