Grace Morris Bulkeley, 98, of Cornish, N.H., died peacefully at her home Jan. 4.
Mrs. Bulkeley, for many years, was a summer resident of South Bristol, living in the Morris family cottage on Rutherford Island, overlooking the Damariscotta River. A native of West Hartford, Conn., she had lived in Cornish full time since 1980. She loved the coast of Maine and the wooded hills of New Hampshire where she preserved hundreds of acres from development. She was noted for her love of animals. She owned many through the years including horses, dogs, miniature donkeys, swans, and peacocks.
She was the widow of William E. C. Bulkeley, her husband of 42 years, who died in 1989. He had been a Hartford, Conn., trial attorney and lay leader of the national Congregational Church. Her health had been in decline for over a year, but she remained alert, cheerful, and entertaining for numerous visitors. During the preceding holiday week she had spent time with each of her three sons and daughters-in-law and most of her nine grandchildren.
She was the daughter of Shiras Morris, an electrical switch inventor and manufacturer, and his wife, Grace Root, both of Hartford, Conn. They bought their cottage on Rutherford Island in 1923. Her father died unexpectedly when she was eight years old, and she spent much of her life with her mother. A few years after her father’s death, early in the Great Depression, her mother and she bought a hilltop property in Cornish, N.H. known as Dingleton, as a summer house.
Mrs. Bulkeley spent much of her life preserving Dingleton House and its gardens. During her life, the house was the focus of a 1995 exhibition on architect Charles Platt at Dartmouth’s Hood Art Museum. The house was also featured in the 2000 book, “A Place of Beauty: The Artists and Gardens of the Cornish Colony.”
She was an avid horse woman and in her younger years won numerous ribbons in shows. She kept riding into her 80s. When living in West Hartford, she served as secretary of the Connecticut Humane Society for many years and was active in the parents’ associations at her children’s schools.
She became a vegetarian in mid-life, following a cross-country train trip in which she viewed dusty cattle feedlots on the Great Plains. She decided she couldn’t justify the animal suffering involved in industrial agriculture. She continued to enjoy eating lobster and other seafood because she argued they would eat her if given the chance. She also enjoyed eggs from her own (extremely) free range chickens and milk from nearby dairies where she could see the cows grazing.
She was known for her wry sense of humor. Many of her far flung nieces and nephews, grandchildren, and grand-nieces called her regularly to chat and update her on their lives. When someone told her that reaching her 98th birthday was “quite an achievement,” she replied: “Yes. You can do it sitting down.”
She was predeceased by her son, Benjamin, in 1980.
Mrs. Bulkeley leaves sons, William M. and wife Debra of Boston, Jonathan A. and wife Ginger of Cornish, N.H., and Alan S. and wife Susan of Weathersfield, Vt.; seven granddaughters; two grandsons; and nephew, Jay Morris and wife Kathy of South Bristol.
Funeral arrangements are private. The family plans to celebrate her life with a memorial service in June.
Memorial donations in her name may be made to the Connecticut Humane Society or the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
