Grace Niedringhaus de Menocal, of Rye, New York, died peacefully on December 26, 2019. She was 93 years old.
Born December 1, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri, Gay, as she was known, was the daughter of Marion and Grace Niedringhaus. After attending Mary Institute in St. Louis, Missouri, she graduated from Bennett College in Millbrook, N.Y.
In August of 1950, she married Daniel Crosby de Menocal of Boston at St. Paul’s Church in Nantucket. The de Menocals, who were married for 69 years, were longtime Rye residents who summered in Nantucket.
Mrs. de Menocal was active in local charity work in Rye, including volunteering at Christ’s Church and the Nearly New Thrift Shop. She had a passion for needlework and crewel embroidery, eventually exhibiting and teaching across western Europe in the 1970s with Erica Wilson, the Julia Child of needlework.
In addition to her husband Dan, Mrs. de Menocal is survived by her sons, Daniel Jr., George, and Peter; six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her younger sister, Barbara of Kansas City, Missouri, in February 2019.
A private memorial service will be held in Rye and she will be interred at the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Nantucket.
