Working as a transportation supervisor for the Island Park School District for 30 years gave Elizabeth Ann Fenley Grande the chance to spend her summers in Montauk, where her father had built a house in 1950.
Mrs. Grande, who was known as Betty Ann, retired in 2000 and moved to Montauk full time.
She was “quick of wit, devastatingly funny, full of life,” and had “a warm aura around her,” her family said. A fan of music, her favorites were old-time rock-and-roll, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, and all things Irish.
“Betty could dance the Lindy till the cows came home,” they said. She threw “fantastic parties and barbecues” for friends and family, celebrating birthdays, St. Patrick’s Day, graduations, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, her most beloved holiday, in grand style.
Mrs. Grande died at home in Montauk on Jan. 21 after a brief illness. She was 81.
A service was held last Thursday at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in that hamlet, with burial following at Fort Hill Cemetery there.
She was born in Providence, R.I., on Sept. 2, 1942, to John Fenley and the former Catherine Kelly. She grew up in Oceanside in Nassau County, and began spending summers in Montauk as a young girl. She graduated from St. Agnes Cathedral High School in Rockville Centre.
She and Andrew Grande were married on Sept. 19, 1964, and settled in Island Park. She went to work for the school district in 1970.
Mr. Grande died in 1993. She is survived by her three children, Jaci Winthrop of East Hampton and Michael Grande and Elizabeth Zaccaria of Montauk, and by her grandchildren, Andrew and Diana Winthrop and Katie and Molly Grande. She leaves three sisters, Kathleen Rieflin and Jackie Fenley of Connecticut and Patricia Worontsoff of Medford, and many nieces and nephews.
A sister, Marie Esposito, and a brother, Dennis Fenley, died before her.
Her family has suggested donations to the Montauk Fire Department’s Company 4 Ambulance, 12 Flamingo Avenue, Montauk 11954.
