Grace M. Niedmann obituary

#Middlebury #Obituary

Loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother

Mrs. Grace M. (Gauya) Niedmann, 83, of Middlebury passed away peacefully at Cook Willow Nursing Home Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, surrounded by her loving family. She was the devoted wife of Carl J. Niedmann.

Grace was born in New York, N.Y., on July 6, 1936, a daughter of the late Albert and Madeleine (Howard) Gauya. She was a graduate of Crosby High School, class of 1954, and of Waterbury Hospital School of Nursing in 1957.

Grace began her nursing career at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, returning home only for the summer of 1959, planning to join her classmates and move to California. But late that summer, Grace was down at the beach in Milford and met a young man named Carl, who asked her for a dance one evening and that changed everything. They started their married life together in Waterbury and moved to Middlebury in 1968. Grace worked private duty late shifts or weekends at Waterbury Hospital, enabling her to raise her young family.

Grace had an impressive career in nursing, participating in cardiac transplantation animal research during the late 1950s and later running the chemotherapy infusion unit at Waterbury Hospital, where she often volunteered to drive a patient home at the end of the day. As a surgical nurse at Danbury Hospital, she earned the nickname “Amazing Grace” for her uncanny ability to know what was needed before the surgeons knew. Finally, Grace helped establish one of the first eye surgery centers in the state while serving as director of nursing at OptiCare, where she remained until her retirement. She was an active member of the Waterbury Hospital School of Nursing Association

Besides her husband, Carl, of nearly 60 years, Grace leaves behind to cherish her memory her sons, Eric Niedmann and his wife, Beth, of Harwinton, and Carl Niedmann of Middlebury and his ex-wife, Michele, of Durham; her grandchildren, Sarah, Eric Jr., Kaitlyn, Ryan, Connor, and Cole, along with two great-grandchildren. Grace was predeceased by her sister, Joan Gauya, and half-brother, Robert Crossley.

Her funeral will be Saturday, Jan. 25, at 10 a.m. from Brookside Memorial/The Albini Family Funeral Home & Crematory at 200 Benson Road in Middlebury, followed at 11 a.m. by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. John of the Cross Church in Middlebury. Burial will be in the Spring. Calling hour will be held Saturday from 9 to 10 a.m. at the funeral home.

For more information or to send an online condolence, please visit www.brooksidememorial.com.