Grace Mary Loeffler O’Donoghue gently passed away on June 12 in her long-time home of Springfield, Virginia. She had just celebrated her 100th birthday with her cherished family, neighbors, and friends – her “village.”
Grace was born on May 15, 1926 in the District of Columbia to Thomas Wilfred Loeffler and Veronica Matilda Kiniry Loeffler. She went to Wilson Teachers College (now the University of the District of Columbia) where she met her husband, William Henry O’Donoghue, and graduated with a degree in Education. Teaching was her dream, passion, and gift since she was a little girl. Grace taught in the DC and Fairfax County school systems over several decades, including at Francis Scott Key Intermediate School, George C. Marshall High School, and Falls Church High School.
Grace’s interests included travel during her summer breaks from teaching, tending to her rowdy bird and squirrel visitors at home, providing the Fairfax County Library system with her self-taught expertise for book mending, and always keeping up with and sharing her family’s latest news. She loved Ocean City, Maryland where she would vacation with her kids for two weeks every summer and in her later years, visit with one or more of her family to explore the boardwalk and beaches, munch on Thrashers French fries, and allow the sound of surf and seagulls to lull her into a blissful sleep. To her family and many others, Grace was a beautiful, devout, free-spirited soul who exemplified being of service. She loved the piano and would play it for the elderly in assisted living centers.
Grace is preceded in death by her brothers Carl Robert Loeffler and Tommy Loeffler, sister Catherine “Kit” Teresa Davis, niece Patricia Ellen Davis, and husband William Henry O’Donoghue. She is survived by her devoted children Denise Maureen Johnson, Rosalind Lee O’Donoghue, Timothy Kirk O’Donoghue, and Julianne Carole O’Donoghue-Lemke; grandchildren Sean O’Donoghue, Darby Johnson, Brian O’Donoghue, Kelleyanne Johnson, and Cameron O’Donoghue; and great-grandchildren Darren Johnson, Zoey Maratto, and Noelle Erwin.
Gravesite services will be held privately with family.
