Gisele G Grace

Gisele Ginette Breton GRACE of Bar Harbor, Maine passed away on Monday March 5th 2012 at 8:20 p.m. from cardiac failure at the persevering age of 88 in Los Angeles, California during a short hospitalization due to a fall.

Her wonderful life started in Paris, France on March 3, 1924 when she was born to Marie Louise Clotilde Gueriot and Mikael Ernest Leonard Breton. Her only sibling and surviving brother, Michel Breton in Paris, France, recalls how Gisele helped to raise him after their mother passed away at the young age of 44. Gisele’s childhood was spent in Dieppe, Lapalisse, Normandy and Paris, surviving the tribulations of World War II and the Nazi occupation of her country, with her father being captured by the Nazis at St. Lo in Normandy at the outbreak of the war, and her Uncle Albert Gueriot being sent to the Maginot Line in 1939.

Gisele attended schools at l’Ecole de la Trinite, Notre Dame de Sannois, and Cours Hatmers Premier obtaining her Certificat D’Etudes, and befriended Simone Legret whose family who owned a perfume store. Gisele became enamored with beauty and cosmetics and was hired by the famous salon of Lancome after the war ended.

Lancome trained Gisele in Paris and she was eventually sent to Messina, Catania, and Palermo, Sicily where her career trajectory catapulted her through London to Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City in 1954 where Gisele introduced the Lancome line (Bien-Aise, Nutrix) to the United States. She was then transferred to Cincinnati, Ohio and brought Lancome to their renowned high-end Gidding’s department store. That is where she met met her husband, John Vincent Grace, who was working for Prince Matchabelli at the time visiting the store as a sales representative. Her poise and grace were captivating, and it was love at first site.

Gisele married John three months later on September 30, 1955 at Saint Vincent De Paul Church in Cobleskill, New York (where John’s family lived) presided by Rev. John J. Dignan.

Gisele quickly adapted to a life of motherhood, having four children, Vincent, Nicole, Richard and Matthew, and living in New York City, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, San Mateo California, Fort Lee and Englewood New Jersey, and Pound Ridge New York, before retiring to Bar Harbor, Maine with John.

She and John enjoyed several memorable vacations abroad, and Gisele eventually went back to work after the children were grown. John, then an executive with Lanvin-Charles-of-the-Ritz, arranged a job for Gisele with Yves Saint Laurent on Madison Avenue in New York City where her sense of fashion, management and public relations skills excelled. She traveled back to her native Paris for fashion weeks and the buying of seasonal fashion lines, customizing looks for the elite women of New York City.

In addition, she found time to volunteer at The Lighthouse for the Blind in New York City, and later continued her interest in assisting the blind in tutoring the French language in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Her talents and artistry were boundless, from her singing voice to her sewing and dress-making, gourmet French and Italian cooking, drawing, framing and album making, landscaping and gardening, house decorating and eventually learning the art of wood bird-carving in Maine. She loved hiking and walking in Acadia National Park, stopping at Jordan Pond for tea and popovers or lobster bisque. She enjoyed her bike rides and kayaking around Frenchman’s Bay and always appreciated the simplicity and the beautiful nature in Maine.

Gisele’s courage, humor, strength of spirit, and enlightened sarcasm were not dulled in aging, and her beautiful face and smile, and her signature hand wave will live on in our memories. She charmed all with her French accent, her impeccable taste in clothes, and was not shy about her voracious appetite until the very end. She was proud to have doubled her mother’s age, even though she hated every wrinkle, and continued to give hair, cosmetic and fashion tips to anyone she met, especially if they needed it.

She is survived by her husband John of 57 years; children Vincent (and his wife Heather), Nicole (and her husband Bill), Richard, and Matthew; five grandchildren Alexander, Lauren, Griffin, Alexandra, and Connor, two cats Winston & Bentley; her brother Michel Breton in Paris France, and his two children Marc and Isabelle.

Gisele’s memorial service will be held at the catholic Church of the Good Shepherd located at 504 N. Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills, California, on Wednesday March 21, 2012 at 2:30p.m. followed by a reception at Belmont Village Senior Living in Westwood at 10475 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles at 3:30p.m. Prior to her ultimate final resting at Holy Redeemer Church cemetery in Bar Harbor, Maine, an additional memorial service will be held in the New York City area in the near future. All condolences can be mailed to John V. Grace, P.O. Box 233, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Wendell Gilley Museum, 4 Herrick Road, Southwest Harbor, M.E. 04679 tel (207) 244-7555 (attn. Nina Gormley).