As Stacey's mom, no amount of words could express all the highlights that Stacey brought to my life from the day she was born. She was a great source of pride. I will always love her, miss her, and treasure the time I had with her. She will forever be in my heart and mind.
As Stacey's future in-laws, we first heard of "Stacey" when one Christmas that Peter visited, he would disappear for hours on end with our telephone. It was only later when the phonebill came in that we realized he was only talking with one person - Stacey. When we finally met with Stacey we could understand why he was smitten and delighted that he had found his soulmate. We always enjoyed calling them and usually spent as much time talking to Stacey as to Peter. She was always delightful to be with and to talk to and complemented Peter so well - putting a check on his excesses that we as parents had never really succeeded in doing. She was everything we could have wanted in a daughter-in-law and we, along with so many others, will desperately miss her. Thank you Stacey for being a big part of our lives.
Stacey being the middle child was just compelled to achieve. As her parents, we tried to get her to chill a little, but mostly to no avail.
When she was 13, we took a family trip to Kauai. We rented a villa right on the beach. It was gorgeous and happened to be whale season. We were told we could spot them from the beach. Sure enough, we spotted one offshore. That is, all of us except dear Stacey who had her nose stuck in a textbook just at the exact moment. After all, Stacey was missing a whole week of school! What else did you expect?
This picture was taken in December of 2015, just a few short weeks before she passed away. It shows her incredible strength and vitality even when she was dealing with physical pain and emotional stress. Stacey was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was only 39 years old. During that time, Stacey would talk about how people who had heard about her diagnosis, but had not seen her for a while, would double take when they saw her and fumble for words because she didn't look sick. Of course, friends and family knew it was not that easy, but she fought hard to live a 'normal' life. While just 4 years later, the 'bad cells' would take over, throughout her illness, she maintained an active lifestyle, including work, travel, and lots of time with friends and family. Exactly as she would have wanted it.
Stacey's two sons, Alex and Robbie, lit up her life every day. Even while working full time and making a killer commute, she always made family a priority as you can see from the many photos of their travels and time together. It meant a great deal to Stacey that they were able to make it on a Harry Potter extravaganza in the Fall of 2015 as she had read all 7 books to the boys over the past years.
She met Peter Grace while working in Greenville, South Carolina. The family knew it was serious when Stacey couldn't identify any weird flaws. Previously, we had all heard about failed dates, such as the guy who had 'skin stretched too tight over his face' and didn't make it to the next date.
Not so with Peter. He even got past her weird family. The first time he met the extended family, he was greeted by Stacey's grandmother with these words: ''You aren't what I expected. I thought you'd be taller..." Thank goodness Stacey was worth putting up with the rest of us and they had 18 years together.
As a student, Stacey was a diligent and hard worker, always challenging herself (and stressing about it) to reach the highest level. This attitude carried into her career and her family as she was always striving, every day, to do it better.
Stacey grew up as the middle of three sisters. Probably not the easiest thing to do. Surely some days were better than others. Lots of fighting, lots of shouting, lots of love. One of the family's favorite stories is when Stacey and her older sister, Amy, had to sit on the steps until they made up after a fight. Even at a young age,both were stubborn enough to sit for hours.
