Gabrielle Ita (Lee) Graham, 82, passed away peacefully at Community Hospice at St. Vincent’s in Jacksonville, Florida, on February 17, 2020, after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. “Gay”, as she was known to family and friends, was born in 1937 in Monasterevin, County Kildare, Ireland to Arthur Lee and Julia (Clowry), the youngest of 6 children. She married Joseph Graham in Dublin in 1962, and soon after they moved to Scotland and Switzerland (with children born in each country) before settling in the U.S. in 1967 where two additional children were born. They lived in New York City, South Carolina, and Ridgewood, New Jersey before moving to Jacksonville in 1978, where they have resided since.
Gabrielle is survived by her husband, Joseph (Joe), four children (Paul, with spouse Jacqueline Courteau; Denise, with spouse Michael Ryan; Diarmuid, with spouse Rachel neé Callahan; and Robert, with fiancée Nicole Thomas), two grandchildren (Paul’s children Richard and Julia), and her older sister, Dolores Dooey (in Dublin), and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was an avid tennis player all her life, and was a member of Bigtree Tennis Club and the Williams Family YMCA. She was a long-time member of San Jose Catholic Church. Gabrielle was a loving, cheerful, and artistic wife, mother, and grandmother who will be much missed by her family and friends.
Visitation will take place on Monday, February 24, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at Hardage-Giddens Funeral Home of Mandarin, 11801 San Jose Blvd. Jacksonville 32223. A funeral mass will be held on Tuesday, February 25, at 12:00 p.m. at San Jose Catholic Church, 3619 Toledo Road, Jacksonville.
In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be sent to Community Hospice at St. Vincent’s (4201 Belfort Road, Jacksonville, FL 32216).
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