Nancy Jane Tierney Graham had a fabulous life. Born in Hartford, Conn. in 1933, she was the second of seven children of Allen and Florence Tierney. Nancy was fearless, curious, capable, and incredibly smart. In 1950, Nancy was fixed up on a blind date with a handsome young man named Joel Graham, also a Hartford resident, who was a student at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. For the next four years, Nancy would take the train from Hartford to Brunswick to visit Joel at Bowdoin for classic college weekends where girls wore cocktail dresses and gloves, smoked cigarettes, and sipped on Sidecars.
By profession, Nancy was a registered nurse (St. Francis School of Nursing ’53). For a few years, early in her career, while Joel was in Officer Candidate’s School and completing his naval flight training in Pensacola, Fla., Nancy was the nurse aboard transcontinental flights on PanAm Airlines. In true Nancy fashion, she bought cashmere sweater sets in Bermuda and throughout Great Britain. On Sept. 24, 1955, the two were married at the Cathedral of Corpus Christi in Texas where Joel, a newly commissioned naval aviator, was stationed.
Over the course of their marriage, Nancy and Joel raised three children and more than 350 standard poodles. There is not enough room here to name all the dogs, but their children are Jonathan, Vanessa, and Jennifer. This September, they would have celebrated 68 years together.
Nancy had an adventurous spirit. In 1963, she knew for a year in advance that the family would be moving to the Naval Air Station in Rota, Spain. She enrolled in immersive Spanish classes at American University. Her command of the language gave her a decidedly different experience with Spaniards who were not accustomed to beautiful, petite, blond American women fluently conversant in Spanish. This advantage led Nancy to employ a haute couture tailor, a shoemaker, a nanny, a gardener, and a cabinet maker. Jonathan, Vanessa, and Jennifer trailed behind Nancy while attending bullfights, touring port winemakers, visiting cathedrals, and climbing through Roman ruins throughout southern Spain.
In 1969, the Grahams moved to Newport, R.I. where Joel was an instructor at the U.S. Naval War College. Here is where Nancy found her joy and her purpose. Her children, Jonathan, Vanessa, and Jennifer were off and growing up, needing less and less full-time parenting. She was a private duty nurse by night and structured the beginnings of her dog breeding business by day. She, and eventually Joel, bred and showed standard poodles, specializing in blacks and browns. They worked hard to build an impeccable reputation in the professional dog world, producing multiple American, Canadian, and Bermudian champions. If you knew Nancy, you knew her poodles.
The happiest time for Nancy and Joel was when they moved to Damariscotta. Both of them loved the rocky coast, the whispering pines, and the embrace of “the way life should be.” Once in Maine, they expanded the business into a full-time championship dog breeding program. Graybriar puppies were highly sought after and commanded a premium for ownership. To be considered as an eventual owner, you had to visit Nancy and Joel in Damariscotta.
For nearly 68 years, Nancy and Joel built a beautiful life together, traveling, raising their children, making friendships worldwide, and sharing their dogs with more than 350 lucky owners. Fast forward to today, their legacy lives on through their six grandchildren and one great-grandson.
We’d like to think that Nancy and Joel are together again, lounging on a sunny porch, surrounded by their beloved and adored canine companions. Nancy will join her husband, three brothers, sister, son, and grandson in “Poodle Heaven.” May they be forever young. In remembrance, please consider a donation to the Potter League for Animals in Middletown, R.I., where Joel served as a board member and Nancy volunteered regularly.
