Grace Van Petten

Portsmouth, RI - Grace Eales Van Petten, 85, of Robin Road, Portsmouth, RI, died peacefully at home on May 28, 2008 surrounded by her loving family and close friends.Born in Fall River, Massachusetts on November 21, 1922, she was the daughter of the late Herbert C. and Annie Hawkins Eales.Grace was the beloved wife of Dr. George T. Van Petten, Capt., USN, Ret., they were married for 49 years.Grace was a member of the St. Marys Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, RI and the Co-Chair the St. Marys Episcopal Church Alter Guild, the Portsmouth Garden Club and the U.S. Naval Nurses Corps Association. Grace was a 1938 graduate of BMC Durfee High School in Fall River, MA. She received her registered nurse degree in 1942 from the former Union Hospital Charlton Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Fall River, MA. In 1943 she joined the US Navy Nurse Corp and she served as a LT in the operating room as an anesthesia nurse. Her tour of duty brought her to the US Naval Hospital in Sampson, NY. It was there that she met the late Dr. George T. Van Petten. They were married on May 18, 1946 in Fall River, MA and she became a devoted navy wife and mother, and accompanied him to various duty stations around the world including her beloved Japan.She is survived by their three sons, Karl H. Van Petten and his wife Jayne Van Petten of Middletown, RI, Robert T. Van Petten and his wife Carolyn Van Petten of Portsmouth, RI and George E. Van Petten of Middleboro, MA. She is also survived by three grandsons, Karl L. Van Petten and his wife Ruth Van Petten of Mulkiteo, WA, Benjamin R. Van Petten of Newport, RI, Nicholas E. Van Petten of Hyannis, MA and three granddaughters Hannah G. Van Petten of Hyannis, MA and Lily A. Van Petten and Grace I. Van Petten of Portsmouth, RI. She was the youngest of four children and is survived by her eldest sister Edna Eales Mullen of Abington, MA and was predeceased by sister Margaret E. Heywood of Swansea, MA and Charles L. Eales of Fall River, MA. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews, and many close friends and neighbors.Visiting hours will be held on Friday, May 30, 2008 from 5pm to 8pm in the Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Broadway, Newport. Her service will be held on Saturday, May 31, 2008, at 11:00am at St. Marys Episcopal Church, 324 Eat Main Road, Portsmouth where a Requiem Eucharist service will be celebrated followed by burial at the family plot in St. Marys Churchyard.Donations in her memory may be made to St. Marys Alter Guild, 324 East Main Road, Portsmouth, RI 02871.