Grace Torrez

Just before sunrise on Saturday, June 16, Grace Duran Fierro Torrez entered into her eternal rest at First Health Hospice. A celebration of her life will be held on Tuesday, July 3, at 11 a.m. in the First Health Hospice Chapel, 251 Campground Road, Pinehurst, NC. The family will receive friends immediately following the service at 18 Kirkton Court in Pinehurst, NC. Born November 27, 1930 in Roswell, New Mexico, Grace was a beloved daughter, sister, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, and friend. She lived in Roswell until moving to Wilmington, California in the early 1950s, where she met and married her husband Lawrence M. Torrez. In addition to raising their six children, Grace was a teachers aide for the Orange County Public School System and served 16 years as an inspector for the Hughes Aircraft Company before retiring in 1988 and later moving to Pinehurst. To know Grace was to love her. She welcomed all into her home and her heart and sustained them with hugs, kisses, and delicious food prepared by her loving hands. Her homemade tortillas, menudo, and tamales were favorites among family and friends and she welcomed all at her table with an open heart and a kind ear. In addition to to keeping spotless homes, Grace was known among her friends and family as a "dog whisperer" who charmed every canine she met and who was cherished by the many "pooches" she raised and cared for throughout her life. Along with her husband, Lawrence, her survivors include three daughters, Roxanne Torrez of Baltimore, Md.; Cindy Torrez of Los Angeles, Calif.; and Michell Kirkpatrick and husband, James, of Pinehurst, N.C.; three sons, Conrad Torrez of Roswell, New Mexico; Larry Torrez and wife, Jo Carol, of Alexandria, Va.; and Robin Lance Torrez of Pinehurst; her brother, Pete Fierro of L.A., CA; and nine grandchildren, Michael Andrew, Darren Mathew, Monica, Kimberly Elaine, Christopher James, Tiffany Michell, Paula Jayne, Anica Marie, and George Antonio Tristen. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in the memory of Grace D. Torrez to either the First Health Hospice Foundation, 251 Campground Road, Pinehurst, NC, 28374 or to the Moore Humane Society, P.O. Box 203, Southern Pines, NC 28388. Arrangements are by Crumpler Funeral Home, Aberdeen, NC.