Obituaries for June 18, 2016

Obituaries for June 18, 2016

Nancy Grantham

On Sunday evening, June 5, Nancy Grantham left this world to begin her flight with the Ravens. Her passing was peaceful and painless. She left with a smile on her face.

Nancy came into this world in 1944 to parents John and Pat Porter in West Vancouver, B.C. She was the second child in a family that ultimately included a sister and four brothers. She played basketball and skied on the mountains of British Columbia and enjoyed that Pacific Northwest childhood. When she was 19 she went to San Francisco and after a job with a bank in the City, she applied for a job as a stewardess with World Airways in Oakland. This led to over 9 years of flying with this airline and was fodder for a great many stories she was happy to share with friends and family. She spent over a year flying soldiers in and out of Vietnam and was even “loaned” by World Airlines to El Al Airlines to serve in Israel.

When she left the airline and returned to San Francisco, she married, moved to Kauai, and had three children, Shannon, Kelly and Patrick. When the marriage ended, she decided to remain on Kauai, and raise her family.

While working at Nihi Kai Villas as the developer’s rep, Nancy met Bruce Grantham. Within a year they married and her life took off again on a wonderful adventure.

She got her Real Estate Broker’s license and began a vacation rental company called Grantham Resorts. Over the next 25 years she guided this company to become one of the largest and most successful companies of its kind on Kauai, making many friends and acquaintances along the way – people remember her infectious smile and never ending chatter to this day.

Nancy was diagnosed with cancer in the late 1980s (the first of five different types of cancer she contracted and beat during her lifetime) and this resulted in her becoming very involved in the National Cancer Society, serving on their Board of Directors and as the Honorary Chairperson of the Relay for Life in Hanapepe the first year it was held there.

In 1994 she was named the SBA’s Woman in Business for Kauai. This was an award she took very seriously as women were just beginning to be recognized in business.

In 2006 Nancy finally sold the business to Johnathan Parrish and retired from the business world to do things she had put off. She went to KCC for a term. She read copious books on many subjects, visited with friends and traveled with Bruce.

In June of 2015 she was told by her doctors that she probably had at best 6 months to live. She took that in the same stride she took everything else. She began to read and study everything medically she could about the two diseases that she had and the drugs she was taking. Nancy also redoubled her efforts to spend as much time as possible with her 9 beautiful grandchildren. They were probably the most important thing in her life.

On June 5, 2016, she felt she had done enough in this life and accepted the Raven’s gift to fly off to the new adventures.

Given all her professional accomplishments, her ohana was always her greatest joy. Lovingly survived by husband Bruce, son Patrick (Jina) Thompson and their children Blaise, Lilly, Mia, Annabella and Bear; daughter Kelly (Tony) Howard and their children Finley and Maddox; and daughter Shannon Scott and her children Luke and Scarlett. She is also survived by brothers Michael (Brenda / Dede), David (Janice), Greg (Debi), Mark (Tracey) and sister Susan (Nelson).

Her Mahalo Celebration in the Park will be held in Poipu at the Botanical Gardens across from Spouting Horn, Sunday, July 10, from 2 to 4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF.org) may be made in Nancy’s memory.