ROCKPORT — Grace Huntley Pugh of Rockport, and Mamaroneck, N.Y., died peacefully at her home, on Halibut Point in Rockport on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010 surrounded by family.

She is survived by her daughter, Gigi Pugh Sundstrom, son-in-law, Jimmie L. Sundstrom, and her twin grandchildren, Grace and Grant. Her husband, Cresson, predeceased her. She was 97 and one of the longest standing members of the Rockport Art Association with a membership extending back to 1944 and a member of the American Watercolor Society.

Grace Huntley Pugh was born on Sept. 25, 1912 in Schenectady, N.Y., to Grace Lake and Grant Huntley and was raised in Rockville Center on Long Island, N.Y. She attended Wellesley College and was graduated from Barnard College with a BA in History of Art and Architecture in 1934. She then pursued graduate studies at the National Academy of Design Art School, the Art Students League, Parsons School of Design. While studying art in New York City, Grace was also a Powers fashion model in and modeled for her teacher and mentor, renowned painter, Leon Kroll. She is memorialized in his mural, "The Defeat of Justice" at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

Thanks to the recommendation of Mr. Kroll who had his summer studio in Lanesville, Grace's first job was as artist-in-residence and head of the art department of Briarcliff Junior College in New York. It was then, in the summer of 1938, that she first visited Cape Ann at the suggestion of Mr. Kroll and her grandmother, Samantha Littlefield Huntley - who was a prominent portrait painter known both here and abroad and who had painted in Cape Ann years earlier at the suggestion of her instructor, John Henry Twachtman. While painting on the rocks of Halibut Point, overlooking Folly Cove, Gracie met her husband, Cresson, who summered with his family at their home, "Dotcrest," on Halibut Point. Cresson's father, Walter Pugh, an Episcopal minister often served as a visiting preacher at St. Mary's and St. John's churches on Cape Ann.

Grace and Cresson were married on Sept. 21, 1940 and moved to Pittsburg where she painted and worked at the Carnegie Institute. With the onset of World War II and Cresson's deployment in the Navy, she returned to Rockville Center and New York became an art director at Young and Rubicam, the advertising agency in New York City.

Following the war, Grace and Cresson moved to Mamaroneck, N.Y., a Westchester suburb of NYC, where she was the founding president of the Mamaroneck Artists Guild, which first met in her backyard "Windhorse Studio," and, besides painting Mamaroneck Harbor and her daughter Gigi among other subjects, was involved with multiple art, community preservation and conservation projects through the decades - all of which she received great acclaim on multiple occasions for her vision, leadership, spirit and generosity to the community. There have been many Grace Huntley Pugh days in Mamaroneck, and she has received multiple proclamations honoring her, including the President of the United States.

Gracie spent decades painting on Cape Ann every summer - both in oils and watercolors. She knew the Rockport and Gloucester harbors intimately because of the fine detail she drew in her works. She especially loved painting Pigeon Cove and Lanesville Harbor. Her oil painting of the reconstruction of the Pigeon Cove breakwater appeared on the Rockport Annual Report in 1979. She also loved swimming, and regularly swam across Folly Cove. She cherished the many friends she had on Cape Ann, and they cherished her. Grace once said, "My paintings are about people and places I love - my family, children, dancers, musicians, architecture, my favorite spots in Europe, my favorite spots in and around Mamaroneck, N.Y., and Cape Ann where I live."

She was also a member of garden clubs of Rockport and Mamaroneck, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and multiple community organizations.

Gracie will be remembered not only for her talent as an artist, but for her vivacious spirit which was truly infectious to all who had the privilege of knowing her.

ARRANGEMENTS: The funeral service will be held on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010 at 1 at the Pugh family chapel at Dotcrest, 295 Granite St., Rockport, after which she will be buried at the Locust Grove Cemetery. Friends and family are invited. The family requests that donations be sent in lieu of flowers to a charity of choice. Any questions should be directed to Burgess & Mackey Funeral Home, 201 Main St., Rockport. Online condolences may be given at www.greelyfuneralhome.com.