Grace P. Buras

Grace was born on January 20, 1930, to Sara LaNasa Polizzi and Joseph Polizzi, also known as “Mr. Joe” to the loyal customers of the Royal Street Grocery. Grace grew up in the French Quarter and attended St. Louis Cathedral School with her next-door neighbor and best friend Leatrice Salvaggio Siegel and Lea’s sister Frances. Grace graduated from the Academy of the Holy Angels High School in 1947.

She was proud of her first job working in a job placement program for WWII veterans. She went on to work as a supervisor of audio visual aids for the Orleans Parish School Board. Grace married Gilbert Rene Buras in 1952. Together they dedicated their lives to raising and educating their four children and to establishing Buras Screen Printing where all four children worked in the production of outdoor advertising.

Grace was always active and engaged, a den mother to the Den 4 Cub Scouts of Troop 230, a perennial “paper drive” champion at St. Catherine of Siena school and Vice President of the Mother’s Club of then newly-built St. Angela Merici school. Grace was an active member and Treasurer of the Bonnabel Civic Improvement Association from 1997 to 2017. She was proud of her Sicilian heritage and was a member of the Cefalutana Society, of which her grandfather was a founding member. Grace never met an animal she did not love and many cats survived for decades under her care. She loved playing cards with the girls of her long time card clubs, especially her close cousin and friend Earline Tierney, travelling and maintaining her well-kept garden.

Grace is survived by her children, Gilbert Rene Buras, Jr. (Karen), Robert Victor Joseph Buras (Fahreena), Mary Kathryn Buras Landry (Richard) and the Honorable Camille Buras Tifft (Michael); her adored grandchildren Richard and William Landry, Justice and Ava Buras, Madeleine Grace and Caroline Buras, and Mary Grace, Matthew and Catherine Tifft and her great-grandchildren Cordelia and Victor Buras and Lucas and Benjamin Landry. She is also survived by her twin brother Richard Polizzi, his wife Madeline Polizzi, her cherished friend Frances Haydel and her loving daughter-in-law Cynthia Hanford.

The family extends its deep gratitude to Dr. Melanie Sheen and her wonderful oncology staff, especially Lynn and Katreena.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend a visitation at St. Louis Cathedral on Thursday, June 07, 2018 beginning at 8:30 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. followed by a Mass of Christian Burial. Interment will be immediately following Mass at St. Louis No. 3 Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Louisiana SPCA, www.la-spca.org.

The family invites you to share your thoughts, fond memories, and condolences online at www.lakelawnmetairie.com.