Grace M. Handrigan

Grace M. Handrigan, 86 years young, passed away peacefully at home in Narragansett on April 9th 2025.

Born in Providence on August 18th,1938 to Terence Murphy and Marion M. "Nonnie" Murphy. Growing up in Providence, she attended all catholic girls schools in Providence run by the famous "Nuns of the Clergy" whom she often said were "Tougher than a Marine on Okinawa with 1 bullet left!"

She enjoyed an active social life with a great group of friends and was known around Mount Pleasant as a bit of "Hell Raiser'' in her day, Grace liked to have fun!

Grace met Brian, her husband of over 56 years on a date and married when he returned from his hitch in the US Marines, where they settled in Providence and then Warwick and finally Narragansett and began to raise a family.

Grace was outgoing and just a bit outspoken at times (really, just a little!) and was also fiercely loyal to her friends and those she supported. Our Dad used to call her, "The Champion of the Underdog" because she always went above and beyond for those who needed a hand, it was just her way.

Grace loved to travel and Ireland was her favorite trip. She made several pilgrimages to the 'homeland" and loved her time spent on trips with family and friends to Galway and Inishmore. The locals there considered Grace a local, it only took her a couple of days to fit right in. She loved her trips to Hawaii, and had a ton of knowledge of any of the Islands and their history. Grace hit the Swiss Alps a few times, loved it and the people as well and she loved her visits to San Diego, Stops in Vegas, and her time in Florida too. Grace could be found any given morning having coffee in the winter in Florida with either the guy living under the Underpass or Alexander Haig or even both at the same time. She enjoyed traveling with her husband and her old friends from Cape Cod around Florida or on a cruise and the laughs never stopped, they had so much fun! Grace had been asking our father for years to retire some of his Florida wardrobe that was lets say, "dated" and when he didn't, she finally took matters into her own hands. On a morning not long after, Grace was picking up her husband at the airport when he arrived and while driving him back to the house, our father happened to looked up going by an underpass encampment and said "Hey Grace, that guys got some of the same exact clothes on that I have!", our mom, well she stepped on the gas.

Funny thing is dad saw the same thing the very next morning going for coffee, and then again a few days later, (It took him a while to figure it out)

She also loved to cook and Grace could make anything taste great and do it without really measuring anything, she had a pure knack for it from making outstanding dinners and deserts, gravy's to homemade breads, it was just easy for her, she would write recipes down on just about anything handy to her at the moment, the back of a bill, an old envelope, a newspaper clipping, napkin, even the back of her hand, it didn't matter, you'd stumble across them everywhere in her house and you found some really cool ones, like a treasure hunt...She was one of the best Italian food Irish woman cooks you'd ever meet!

Grace loved the beach, loved sitting with her feet in the sand and could stay there for hours! In her later years, she enjoyed sitting by the ocean and in the salt air almost as much. Her idea of a great day, years back was swinging into Galilee grocery, grabbing a loaf of bread, a jar of Peanut Butter and Jelly and along with a jug of Kool aid and a butter knife, meals were made in the back of the station wagon for the beach that day, sand and all!

Grace also loved animals, and had many cats and dogs of her own, but also a large following from the neighborhood pets over the years, especially around dinner time. she'd be known to say "That poor thing looks hungry" as she looked out on her deck at a 30lb. cat, soon to be 32 lbs.....

The animals grew a bit more exotic over the years, she named the Deer that came by her yard and enjoyed talking to them, encouraging them to actually raid her bird feeders ( the birds weren't happy) and she had regular visits from Opossums, Fisher Cats, an occasional Bobcat, Hawks, Racoons and all the birds who came daily, especially the big red Cardinal "Stanley" with the bent and crooked beak that showed up every morning who she swore was really our father, Brian.....

She worked daily for years at Champlin's seafood restaurant in Galilee, upstairs in the restaurant and put in a lot of hours on her feet, yet she made and met so many great people over the years, not only the people and partners she worked with, but the customers too, and she still remembered their names, their drinks, their orders, where they were from, even birthdays, no really, she was really great like that, a peoples person to the fullest!

She loved her plants and had a vast knowledge of everything she grew and watered and her "old school" ways of fertilizing and caring for them, it was pretty cool to see her little projects like that.

Lastly, if you missed the 6 o'clock news, you called Grace, she'd have you up to speed in an hour or two, with a recipe thrown in at the end for good measure.

Time waits for no one, and it was Grace’s time. She is pre deceased by her husband Brian, (No, not the big Red Cardinal we talked about earlier) her youngest son Terence, niece Cheryl, brother in law David and sister in law Ginger who were all extremely close, for many many years, they were inseparable.

She is survived by her son Timmy and his wife Cody, her daughter Patricia, and her son Michael; her grand children, Courtney, Chelsey, Thomas, Casey, Michael, Connor, Matthew, and Debbie as well as her great nieces Erin, Caitlin and Celia, and of course Colleen and Kerri; her great grand children Kennedy, Reagan and Keegan, as well as all the wonderful friends, family and caretakers who spent time with her over the later years, thank you to all of you for being a part of Graces life, it was never dull!

Grace's Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Wednesday, April 16th at 10 am at Christian Brothers Chapel, 635 Ocean Rd., Narragansett. Visiting hourrs are respectfully omitted. Burial will be in New Fernwood Cemetery, Kingston.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Pt. Judith Fisherman's Memorial Foundation, P.O. Box 3315, Narragansett, RI 02882.