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Grace Family at Battle Abbey

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                                                                Battle Abbey Salon 1906

 Grandpoods, as we called Mother's father, was small and round, with pink cheeks, bright blue eyes, and a sparkling look. Without the slightest effort on his part he charmed everyone and made them feel that they were of the utmost importance. He lavished his affections on his four daughters and nine grandchildren. Each one of us secretly felt that he or she was his favorite.

When we were children, he spent half the year with us or we with him. He would stay at Westbury for a few weeks in the autumn, and then we would spend the winter with him in one of the Breakers' cottages in Palm Beach. In the spring, he would stop by on his way to England, and we joined him and the rest of the Michael Grace family for August and September. So for me, he was the inmost part of the family along with Mother, Father, my brothers, and my dog. I found one of his old calling cards, engraved with his name and two addresses: "Incas," Palm Beach, and Westbury House, Westbury, Long Island. So, for him also, his American family was his second home.