A beloved daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend, Caroline Oldham Grape, died peacefully on December 10, 2019 at the age of 20 surrounded by her family and several of her friends after a brave battle against a very rare and aggressive cancer. She was born in Newton, MA on August 12, 1999 to Anne and Tom Grape. Caroline spent most of her childhood in Weston, MA where she graduated from The Meadowbrook School and The Rivers School. She also attended Connecticut College for the fall of her freshman year.
Caroline’s special grace touched the hearts of all who knew her. She made friends easily and kept them for life. She was a parents dream of a child, the world’s best sister and a trusted confidante to many. She always made those around her laugh and feel good about themselves. She included those not included by others, and left everyplace she had been better because of her presence and her generous heart.
Caroline also excelled at everything she put her mind to, including her passion for running. She ran both Cross Country and Track. She was captain of her track team for two years at The Rivers School, and captain of the Cross Country Team in her Senior year, earning its FE Allison Award for self-sacrifice, determination and perseverance and working for the best interest of the team. Caroline also received the 2018 Rivers Track Integritas Award “which is given to the athlete who best demonstrates the attributes of integrity, as expressed in our core values…”. She was also a recipient of the Rivers Scholar Athlete Award for two sport athletes with high academic achievement. Caroline was named to the 2017-18 NEPSTA All New England Team, and was an All ISL Cross Country Honorable Mention. In her Freshman year at Connecticut College, she was named the Cross Country Team Rookie of the Year.
Caroline was an excellent student. She earned high honors at Rivers, and earned Dean’s High Honor’s and was named a Presidential Scholar as a result of her work in her first semester at Connecticut College. She was also a voracious reader and writer, and served as a Teaching Assistant for English classes at Rivers. She kept numerous journals during her life. She would entertain her friends with her journal entries finding delight in her own childhood developmental stages. It was her intention to write a book someday about child and human development incorporating her own personal experiences.
Musically, Caroline had a beautiful voice that she first discovered at The Meadowbrook School to everyone’s delight. She shared her musical talent at The Rivers School and performed at multiple senior living communities for her Senior project where she and a classmate brought tremendous happiness to their residents.
She loved animals and kids but especially her dog Brooksie and her cat Lucy. Her favorite outing was going to the animal shelter. It was her dream to have a house filled with animals and kids. And, Caroline found joy and many happy memories at Hidden Farm in Grafton, VT and on the seashore in Westport, MA.
She is survived by her mother, Anne Grape of Weston; her father and stepmother, Tom and Mary Grape of Weston and Hingham; her beloved sister Emily of Weston; her stepbrothers, Nicholas and Harry Wheeler of Hingham; her grandmother, Anne Egbert of Wellesley; aunts and uncles including Peter and Linda Grape of Wellesley; Dee and Eric Karlen of Marietta, GA; Judy and Charlie Barnett of Norwalk, CT; Allison and Roberts Brokaw of Wilmington, DE; and Richard Egbert of Pittsburgh, PA. She also has many cousins, nieces and nephews.
Friends and Family will be received on Monday, December 16 from 4 – 8 pm at The George F. Doherty Funeral Home at 477 Washington St. (Rt. 16), Wellesley. A funeral service be held on Tuesday, December 17 at Trinity Church in the City of Boston (located on Copley Square) at 11 am, with a reception to follow. Burial will be private at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in memory of Caroline Grape to support Dr. George Demetri’s Sarcoma Research Fund at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284. Please make checks payable to Dana Farber and include Dr. George Demetri’s Research Fund in the memo section. You may also make a gift online at danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/thecarolinefund