Grace Jefferson

It is with great sadness that we the family of Grace McGill Jefferson announce her transition from life to death.

Grace was born on July 18, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio to the union of Luvenia Reeves and Charley McGill.

Grace attended Cleveland Public Schools and later graduated from John Hay High School in 1943. Then, at the age of 61, she decided to go back to school, seeking to further her education, so she enrolled in Cuyahoga Community College and graduated with an Associate's Degree in the Studies of Childhood Development for Special Needs Children.

Grace married Randolph Jefferson, and soon became a widow and had to face the challenge of rearing her children without a father. After, becoming a single parent, she acquired gainful employment and worked hard at providing for her children.

Grace loved to work, and she would walk and sometimes catch many buses to get to her jobs because she never became a licensed driver. Most of the time she was working several jobs at one time, always trying to provide for her 12 children. She was employed at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club, and she also catered parties, and she was a domestic worker helping families maintain their homes and tending to their children.

Grace loved to travel and, in her lifetime, she had many opportunities, provided by her daughter, Juanita, to travel in and out of the Country.

Grace loved to dance and she loved music. Her favorite secular song was "The Way We Were" versions by Barbara Streisand and later the remake by Gladys Knight. She even taught herself to play the organ. For her spiritual enhancement, she loved listening to the Mississippi Mass Choir, and she loved the song “Amazing Grace."

Grace was a lover of people. She was outgoing and loved to meet people. She never met a stranger. She always had a smile on her face, and she loved to joke and laugh with others. She had a great sense of humor even in her old age.

Grace was the neighborhood, "go-to person." Her neighbors loved and depended on her for moral support or spiritual support, or she would give them a hot meal. Although she had a large family, she would literally feed the neighborhood. If you went to Miss Jefferson's house, she always had food on the stove, and she practically made you sit at the table and eat with the family.

We sadly announce that she leaves behind to celebrate her life and mourn her death, 6 daughters, Diane Pugh, Goldie McGill, Zenaide Jefferson, Juanita McGill Latimore (Ricky), Helen Jefferson Carson (Dwayne) and Mary Jefferson. She leaves 4 sons, Randolph Jefferson, John Jefferson, Henry Jefferson, and Robert Jefferson.

She also leaves behind 35Grandchildren and many 65 Great-Grandchildren, many nieces and great-nieces, cousins, and a host of relatives and friends.

She is preceded in death by her mother, Luvenia, father, Charley, her 5 sisters, Irene, Helen, Luvenia, twin sisters, Mae Ella and Mary Ellen, 2 brothers, Alfred and Charley McGill.

She also had two of her twelve children, whom she missed terribly, to precede her in death, Mable Jefferson, and Damon Jefferson.

She also leaves her Brothers and Sisters of the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses located on Superior Avenue, in Cleveland, Ohio where she attended until her health failed her. She also leaves two special friends, Sis. Johnnie Johnson and Ms. Norley, and her special cousin from Painesville, Ohio, Ms. Ina Marshall.

God rest the soul of our love one, Grace (McGill) Jefferson