Member Spotlight: Fran Grassia
I was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and our family moved from there to Manhattan when I was young. During high school I worked part-time in the kitchen at Lenox Hill Hospital. I was about to leave my position to start a job for the summer as a mother’s helper, but my supervisor convinced me to stay an extra week. It seemed like she knew something I didn’t. Well, I stayed the extra week, and lo and behold, that’s how I met my husband, Frank! We were scheduled to work in the kitchen at the same time that week, and we crossed paths as I gathered the dishes and he worked the steam table. I thought he was giving me a line when he asked me if I could tell him what time it was. There was a clock just two feet away! It turned out he wasn’t wearing his glasses because of the steam, so he couldn’t see the clock. And that’s how we met! It turned out the supervisor was trying to play matchmaker all along.
We dated for two years before we were married, and shortly thereafter we welcomed our two sons, Frank Sebastian and Joe. The day Frank and I got married and the days that I had my two boys were the three happiest days of my life.
When we were first married, Frank was a history teacher at one of the roughest middle schools in the Bronx. We knew we wanted to get out of the city to raise the boys, so on a trip upstate to visit my girlfriend, my husband decided to hand out some resumes. Soon after, we got a telephone call. It was South Glens Falls School, and they wanted to hire my husband to teach History! It worked out much more quickly than we ever anticipated. We fell in love with this area, the people, the open spaces, and the fresh air. I don’t miss the subways in the City, I don’t miss the buses. But I do miss the museums. When I was young, my father would take us to the Museum of Natural History or the Metropolitan Museum of Art every Sunday. It was really special.
Once the boys were grown, Frank and I enjoyed traveling. We went on a few cruises to Bermuda and the Caribbean. But most of all we loved going to Rockport, Massachusetts. We went just about every summer. That was our place.
Frank passed away last year. He was the love of my life. He had a great sense of humor. He was super intelligent. You could ask him anything about history or politics, and he knew. He was a very good teacher. Except when it came to teaching me golf - I put holes all over the backyard!
I joined QSC back in 2009. I love everything about it. All of the activities we have here are wonderful. I love the trips - the day trips, the multi-day trips, all of it. I’ve met a lot of people here; made a lot of friends. Back when I started attending Osteobusters, the leaders began encouraging me to become a leader. At the time, I was still working, so I told them that when I retired from my career in insurance, I’d become a leader. So, I kept my promise! And I really enjoy it.