Fay Gridley

(Forestine) Fay Gridley passed away peacefully in her sleep on July 16, 2018. Fay was born Feb. 24, 1932 in Big Rapids, Mich., and is preceded in death by her parents, Forest and Clytie Porter, and her eight older half-siblings.

Fay is survived by her loving husband of 67 years, Jack, and their three children; Mark Gridley (Stacy), Gail Oliphant, and Kimlynn Marsden (Jim); and their seven grandchildren, Joshua and Dustin Gridley, David, Valerie and Andrew Oliphant, and Granger and Grant Marsden.

Fay majored in Library Science at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, where she met Jack, and they married after his graduation in 1951. While in Michigan, Fay was heavily involved in state-wide GOP politics. She was a contract bridge player for many years, an excellent seamstress, and an avid reader.

She was employed as the office manager for a busy Kalamazoo law firm until 1973 when Jack and Fay decided to move to Fountain Hills.

They opened up McDowell Mountains Stationery, an offset printing and office supply store, on Saguaro Blvd. A few years later they changed the name to Gridley’s of Fountain Hills and moved the location of the store to the Avenue of the Fountains, until its recent closing in 2017.

Fay was always civic-minded and involved in numerous community organizations over the 45 years of living and working in Fountain Hills. She was instrumental in shaping the Chamber of Commerce and served as President. She not only assisted in the formation of the town’s Civic Association, but also was influential in the incorporation of Fountain Hills. Fay was also helpful in the coordination of the Annual Fountain Festival of the Arts. Her vast service to the community was honored by naming her “Business Person of the Year” and inducting her into the community’s Hall of Fame.

Fay will be remembered for her business acumen and dedication to the community she called “home.” We lost a bit of Fountain Hills with her passing.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations in Fay’s honor to the Fountain Hills Friends of the Library. There will be no services.