Grace S. Dillon

Grace S. Dillon, 93, passed away peacefully at her daughter’s home in Ellington, Connecticut, on Monday, June 12, 2023.  Grace was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut on January 15, 1930, the middle daughter of Richard Smith and Angela Curtin Smith.

Grace was a kind, generous, selfless and dignified person, a devoted wife and mother.  Resilience was a major part of her character, as she was able to live a long and happy life despite experiencing considerable adversity in her life.  Her father died of cancer in 1948 when Grace was 18 years old.  Her mother was able to see Grace marry Dr. David Morgan in 1952 and see the birth of Grace’s first two children, but also died prematurely in 1957.  Grace and her first husband set up a household in Cheshire, Connecticut and successfully raised five children, but Dr. Morgan died in 1976 after a marriage of 24 years.

Grace held her family together after her first husband’s death, and though she had been a stay-at-home mom during her first marriage, she began a new career at age 46 as a manager of chiropractic offices, culminating in serving as the office manager of Dr. Edward Hartney’s office in Plainville, Connecticut for more than 20 years.

Fortunately, in early 1981 she met Bernie Dillon, who was also a widower, and they were married in October 1981.  Grace and Bernie then lived a loving and contented life together, at their home on Belridge Road in Cheshire from 1981 until 2007, and then at Elim Park in Cheshire from 2007 until Bernie passed away at age 94 in 2020.  During her otherwise idyllic life at Elim Park, however, Grace endured the tragic death of her daughter, Kathleen Pompa, in 2017.

Grace continued to live at Elim Park after Bernie’s death, but because of declining health she moved in with her devoted daughter Joanne Bedard in late 2022, and lived there, receiving superb care from her daughter, until her death.

Grace is survived by four of her children, David Russell Morgan, Jr., and his wife, Elizabeth, of Windermere, Florida, and Potsdam, New York, Thomas Michael Morgan, and his wife, Amy, of Las Vegas, Nevada, Joanne Morgan Bedard, and her husband, Richard, of Ellington, Connecticut, and Susan Morgan Mauro, and her husband, Michael, of Davenport, Florida, her stepson Gregory Dillion of North Haven, Connecticut, her sister, Helen Smith Rossman of St. Paul, Minnesota, as well as ten grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren.  She was predeceased by her husbands, David Russell Morgan and Bernard A. Dillon, her daughter, Kathleen Morgan Pompa, and her sister Dorothy Smith.

Visiting hours will be at the Alderson-Ford Funeral Home of Cheshire 615 S. Main Street on Thursday, June 15, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  Funeral services will be held on Friday June 16 at 9:15 a.m. from the funeral home and proceed to Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish/St. Bridget Church, 175 Main Street, Cheshire, Connecticut for a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 am.  Burial will follow at Saint Bridget Cemetery, Higgins Road, Cheshire, Connecticut. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Grace’s memory to Elim Park Baptist Home, Resident Benevolent Fund, 140 Cook Hill Road, Cheshire, Connecticut, 06410.