Lillis J. Bunce

Grafton – Lillis J. Bunce died Wednesday, November 3, 2010, at Crofton Care and Rehabilitation Center in Crofton, MD, at the age of 90. Born Lillis Adele Jackson on August 5, 1920, in Greene, NY, she was the daughter of Harold Wallace Jackson and Theo Preston Jackson. She graduated from Auburn East High School, Auburn, NY, in 1938 and from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, in 1942 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology. She worked in a hospital laboratory in East Orange, NJ, until her marriage to Stanley Chalmers Bunce in 1944.
She and Stanley lived in Grafton, NY, for 57 years. She was active in the Grafton United Methodist Church, where she served on the Administrative Council, as Choir Director and, for many years, as the Organist. She served as a volunteer librarian for the Grafton Community Library for 25 years, and was President of the Taconic Valley Garden Club.  With her husband, she enjoyed several outdoor activities, canoed in Canada and Alaska and hiked and backpacked throughout New York, New England, the western United States and in Norway, Scotland and Australia.
Lillis is survived by her brother, the Reverend James Jackson, her daughters, Gale Schmidt and Judith Turner, her son, James, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She is pre-deceased by her husband.
A memorial service will be on December 4 at 2 pm at the Grafton United Methodist Church on Route 2 in Grafton.  If desired, memorial contributions may be sent in her name to Doctors Without Borders, USA, P.O. Box 5030, Hagerstown, MD, 21741, to the Grafton Community Library, P.O. Box H, Grafton, NY, 12082-0308, or to the Town of Grafton for the maintenance of the gardens in the Town square.