Robert E. Grant, of Haydenville, Massachusetts, went peacefully to be with the Lord on Dec. 10, 2017, surrounded by his immediate family. He died after a fall and a brief stay in the hospital in Springfield, Mass. where he had been born 84 years earlier on March 22, 1933.

Bob grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, graduated from Amherst College in 1955, and Yale Divinity School in 1959. The following year he pursued a non-degree program in Edinburgh, Scotland where he married Nancy Palmer on March 22, 1960. Bob and Nancy returned to Scotland for their Golden Honeymoon, where they visited the church in which they were married and stayed several nights in the same hotel room they had fifty years earlier. It was a special blessing to have time in the Highlands with the pastor who married them and his wife.

Bob served 40 years as an ordained United Methodist minister in northern New Jersey, including six years as district superintendent. After Bob retired in 1997, he and Nancy returned to Massachusetts where they purchased their home in Haydenville. Bob was an accomplished transparent watercolor artist whose passion was to reveal the light by painting local scenes, especially those in Midcoast Maine. The Grants have a rustic A-frame in Boothbay on a peaceful cove to which they have returned every summer since the late 1970s, an anchor through many moves. Additionally, Bob loved singing, a joy that began in a cherub choir and continued through various venues all his life, climaxing last summer when he was again able to sing with the Lincoln Festival Chorus in Boothbay Harbor.

Bob touched so many people throughout his life with his love, compassion, and grace. He not only saw the beauty in the simplest things and in people, but he brought that beauty to light. Though his family is experiencing his loss deeply, they feel blessed for the richness he has brought to their lives.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy P. Grant, sons, Robert M. Grant of South Deerfield, Mass., Andrew P. Grant of Greenfield, Mass., daughter, Anita S. Grant of Roanoke, Virginia, and grandchildren, Ian Grant, Madelyn Grant, Hannah Sturgeon and Emily Sturgeon.

A service in celebration of Bob’s life will be held at Christ United Methodist Church in Northampton, Mass. at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16. On July 29, there will also be a worship service at 10 a.m. as part of the family reunion followed by the interment of Bob’s ashes in Acton, Maine.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to a charity of your choice.