Obituary: Anne Marie (Grimley) Nardini, 89, Of Danbury

Information and Photo Courtesy Green Funeral Home

DANBURY, CT — Anne Marie (Grimley) Nardini, of Danbury, passed away peacefully on April 8, 2024, at the age of 89, surrounded by her family. Anne Marie was born in Jersey City, NJ, on July 5, 1934, the first of three daughters (along with Rose and Elizabeth) of William Francis Grimley and Anna Cecilia (Sullivan) Grimley. She was a graduate of St. Nicholas School in Jersey City and Sacred Heart Academy in Hoboken, and attended New Jersey State Teachers College in Jersey City.

Anne Marie met her future husband, John C. Nardini, Sr., in 1954, when she was teaching a high school CCD class and he was organizing a new parish youth group at St. Nicholas. After just one date, they knew they had found their match for life. They married on June 2, 1956, and six children followed over the next eighteen years: Patricia, Donna, Kathleen, John Jr., William, and Michael. In 1960, they moved to Totowa, NJ, where they raised their family and were active members of their new parish, St. James of the Marches.

Anne Marie was a resilient Irishwoman who was dedicated to her family and gave strength to others in adversity. She was a model of community engagement, serving as a 4-H leader for her girls and a Cub Scout leader and Boy Scout Committee member for her boys, and as president of the St. James Mothers Guild. Together with her husband John, she was a passionate and early advocate for special education services, responding to the needs of their oldest son. She was a pillar of support to her own parents, and after John Sr.’s untimely death in 1984, she devotedly continued raising their children with strong family values and ensured they had educational opportunities to follow their chosen path. She worked for years as an educator in the school district of Little Falls, New Jersey.

Anne Marie moved to Danbury in 1998 to be closer to family, and became a Eucharistic Minister at St. Gregory the Great parish. Over the last forty years, she delighted in being grandmother to eighteen grandchildren. No visit to Grandma was complete without fresh-baked goodies, a new children’s book, or a friendly game of canasta. No birthday passed without the gift of flannel Grandma PJs; no winter passed without a handmade scarf and hat; and no graduation passed without a lovingly knit afghan.

Friends are welcome to join the family at a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church, 85 Great Plain Rd., Danbury, Connecticut, on Friday, April 12, 2024, at 10:30 a.m.

There will be no public viewing hours.

A private burial ceremony for family only will follow at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, NJ.

Anne Marie shared lifelong bonds of affection with the Franciscan Sisters who faithfully served the parish of St. James of the Marches for many years. And so, in lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Franciscan Sisters of Peace, Development Office, 20 Ridge Street, Haverstraw, NY 10927.