ROCHESTER, NH- Valerie Ann Ward, age 62, wife of Peter, passed away on July 9, 2018 at the Hyder Family Hospice House in Dover.
On July 9 God brought his angel, Valerie Ann Ward, to heaven to be with him. Val was a resident of Hyder Family Hospice in Dover at the time. Valerie was born in Biddeford, Maine on April 21, 1956. She was the daughter of the late Raymond Grant and Catherine (Smith) Grant. Valerie lived her early life in Gorham, Maine and later in Westbrook, Maine. She attended and graduated from Gorham High School in 1974 and the University of Southern Maine and Andover College. Valerie was a nutritionist and dietician by training but had a varied and enlightened career.
Valerie had been employed at the Spring Harbor Hospital for several years. In 2000 Valerie met and married her husband Peter and they relocated to Rochester, NH where Val was employed as a seamstress at Cleary Cleaners. She also worked at Target in Somersworth as a pricing manager and at Savers in Portsmouth. In 2009 she co -owned and managed the Chicken’s Roost in downtown Rochester. In 2011 Valerie and Peter followed their dreams and moved to Monument Valley, Arizona to manage a hotel there. Valerie returned to New Hampshire in 2012 and then traveled around the country living in Avoyelles and Rapides Parishes in Louisiana and in High Point, North Carolina. Val was a true New Englander though and could not stay away from home. She returned to Rochester, NH in 2016 and remained here.
Val was a woman of great faith and devotion. She was a member of Higher Ground Baptist Church in Northwood, NH and coordinated the greeters’ ministry there. She deeply believed in service to her Lord and volunteered when able around the Rochester area. Val also belonged to the Archdale, NC Assembly of God Church and the Assembly of God Church in Marksville, Louisiana and Alexandria, Louisiana.
Val enjoyed gardening and her roses. She left a trail of roses throughout this nation planting them everywhere she lived. She was a quilter and crocheted hats and mittens for children and families in need.
Val succumbed to the cancer that she had battled for several years. Her faith in God’s healing grace remained with her to her last day. Although Valerie has left us her legacy lives on in her daughters, Melissa Anderson of Maine and Valerie Page also of Maine. Her grandchildren, Nathan, Shandi, Davin, Caliegh and Declan will miss their grandmother very much. She is also survived by her husband of 18 years, Peter Ward of Rochester, NH.
Funeral arrangements are being coordinated by Poitras, Neal and York Funeral Home in Cornish, Maine. A celebration of Val’s life will be held at the Calvary Bible Church in Hiram, Maine on July 13 following a graveside service at the Stanley Cemetery in South Hiram and burial in the family plot there. Although Valerie loved flowers she asked that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Food Ministry at Higher Ground Church in Northwood, NH, to the American Cancer Association or to Friends of Hyder House family Hospice in Dover, NH.
Arrangements have been entrusted Poitras, Neal & York Funeral Home, Cornish, www.mainefuneral.com