Grace (Miller) Hepford

Grace Miller Hepford, age 95, passed away on September 20, 2022 at her home at Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.  Grace was born in Drums, Pennsylvania on June 12, 1927 and was the daughter of Howard R. and Margaret Daubert Miller.

Grace graduated from Susquehanna Township High School in 1944 and from Albright College in 1948, where she majored in home economics and was a member of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority. After college, Grace worked for the United Gas Improvement Company in Harrisburg and appeared in television advertisements for the latest gas-powered appliances and demonstrated how to make new food products, like boxed cake mixes, using a gas oven.  Grace married H. Joseph Hepford in 1952. During their marriage of 57 years, they resided in Harrisburg where they raised their two daughters.  Grace was a devoted wife and mother and was actively engaged in community activities, such as Meals on Wheels.

Grace loved to travel and had been to all fifty states as well as to six of the seven continents (only missing Antarctica). Grace also enjoyed playing golf, spending time at the Jersey shore and in Florida with family and friends, and watching Penn State football.  She was an avid reader and was always interested in current events.  Grace was an outstanding cook and baker, and her family looked forward to Thanksgiving, when she made the best-ever mashed potatoes and gravy, and Christmas, when she baked a variety of cookies, being sure to include everyone’s favorites.  She remained active and engaged, enjoying concerts and activities with friends at Masonic Village, attending family gatherings, and visiting her daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren often.

She is predeceased by her husband, H. Joseph Hepford, her sister, Jean Loughridge, and her brothers, Benjamin, Vaughn (“Duffy”), and Merlin Miller. She is survived by her sister, Patricia Helm of Harrisburg, her two daughters, Diane Hepford Lenahan (John) of Scranton and Marcia Hepford Watt (John) of Skaneateles, New York, and her five grandchildren, Virginia, Hayley, and Trip Lenahan, and John and Cooper Watt. 

There will be a Memorial Service at 1:00 pm on Saturday, September 24, 2022 at Sell Chapel on the campus of Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, with an opportunity to visit with the family immediately following the service.  Burial services will be private at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Pennsylvania Lions Eye Research Sight Conservation Foundation, c/o Robert W. Miller (Treasurer), P. O. Box 6, Orwigsburg, PA 17961 or to Sell Chapel, c/o Office of Mission Advancement and Development, Masonic Village, 1 Masonic Drive, Elizabethtown, PA 17022.

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