Obituary: Giannini, Grace H.
Born Marian Grace Herrmann in Lee, Illinois on June 25, 1921, she graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1943, and taught elementary school in Illinois and Michigan.
In 1946, she was hired by the Territory of Hawaii to teach sixth grade at Paauilo Elementary School on the island of Hawaii.
She met Raymond W. Giannini (1916 - 1995), a chemist on the Paauilo sugar plantation, and married him in April, 1947.
They had a daughter and a son, and in 1952 moved to North Kohala, also on the island of Hawaii.
She taught elementary school and high school classes as a substitute, eventually returning to full time teaching at the fourth and fifth grade level.
She took Master’s level teaching courses, focusing on her interests in music and Hawaii, until she retired from teaching in 1976.
She and Ray then spent almost a year in Piracicaba, Brazil, where Ray consulted on sugar production and Grace learned Portuguese.
They returned to North Kohala, where Grace lived until moving to Spokane, Washington in 2007.
Grace lived at Touchmark on South Hill for over seven years, attended Spokane Symphony and other music and dance performances regularly, read voraciously, and enjoyed family outings to western Montana and Williams Lake.
She visited Hawaii every year she lived in Spokane.
She is survived by daughter Mary (Arthur Harlow) Giannini of Spokane Washington; son Fred (You Sun) Giannini of Kealakekua, Hawaii; sisters Edith Hart of Kirkland, Illinois and Rita Gallegos of Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii; granddaughters Margaret Harlow, Lewiston, Idaho and Melinda (Adam) Anakalea, Hawi, Hawaii; and three great- grandchildren.
She was pre-deceased by her husband, Ray, brothers Donald, Cyril, James and Leo Herrmann, and by sister Caroline Jerling.
No services are planned for now, but in the summer the family will have a service at the West Hawaii Veterans’ Cemetery, Big Island of Hawaii, where Grace and Ray will be buried.