William Grant Heggie Jr.

William Grant Heggie Jr., 84, of Nellysford, Virginia died peacefully at home on Monday, August 26 th, surrounded by family and friends and with his beloved dog, Fergus, by his side.

Born in 1939 in Springfield, Massachusetts, Grant was raised in Indian Orchard, MA. He graduated from Classical High School in 1957, where he was a multi-sport athlete and the class Vice President. He attended Tufts University, joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity and graduated in 1961 with a BA in Political Science. Grant made many life-long friends in high school and college.

He entered the Air Force as a second lieutenant through Tufts’ ROTC program and served proudly with the 6 th Combat Air Defense Squadron based at Walker Air Force Base in New Mexico. As part of the 6th, he experienced a number of what he drily referred to as "fairly exciting" missions during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

After serving in the Air Force, Grant attended the University of Minnesota and received a Master's degree in Hospital Administration. He began a distinguished career in that field at the Franklin County Public Hospital in Greenfield, MA, and was later appointed Executive Director of the Western Massachusetts Health Planning Council. In 1973, Grant joined Project Hope, accepting an assignment in Maceio, Alagoas Brazil, the then-impoverished Brazilian Northeast state. Over the next three years, Grant led the planning, building and training of the support staff for a 75-bed general acute hospital and the initiation of a number of desperately needed public health programs. Grant referred to his time in Brazil as his most satisfying career experience.

After Brazil, Grant returned to New England as Vice President of the Maine Hospital Association where he worked from 1976 to 1984 and assumed its Presidency in 1980. In 1984, Grant accepted a position as President of the Mid-Atlantic Region of Voluntary Hospitals of America, based in Alexandria, Virginia. Though a “Yankee” by birth and heritage, the move to Virginia was life-changing for Grant. Not only did he fall in love with the state, but he also met and fell in love with native Virginian Patti, whom he was soon to marry. While working in Northern Virginia he discovered the particular beauty of Nelson County during frequent ski trips to Wintergreen and subsequently bought a condo on the mountain.

After Grant’s retirement and over a decade of living in New England attending to a growing squadron of grandchildren, he and Patti settled back in Nellysford in 2007, where they entertained legions of friends and family over the years.

During retirement, Grant became active in the Charlottesville and Nellysford communities. He applied his considerable talents and endless energy to an array of meaningful local causes, serving as President of the Board of Directors of Virginia Neurocare, and playing a key role in the merger of Virginia Neurocare and Building Bridges Charlottesville. Grant also served as Vice President of the Board of Directors of BridgeLine, an organization dedicated to helping head-injured adults lead full and active lives.

Grant also volunteered with the Virginia Special Olympics at Wintergreen, and as a “Friend of the Blue Ridge Parkway” on the Bear Patrol for the National Park Service, educating visitors at Humpback Rocks about bear safety (“Don’t throw food and run. Seriously. Don’t do this”). In his spare time, Grant loved to ski, play tennis, hike, when not entertaining housefuls of family, friends and neighbors (Fox Runners).

Throughout his life, Grant valued family above all. He was a loving father, grandfather and husband (as well as a patient and diligent host to the myriad canine guests his children brought for visits over the years). Adored as “Buppa” to his grandchildren, he helped create memories and founded traditions that are treasured and will be carried forward by future generations: skating parties, sleep overs, “Thanksmas,” summer fun at Wintergreen and family reunions.

Grant is survived by Patti, his wife of 33 years, his son Bill Heggie and his wife, Cyndi, of Hampton, NH; daughter Jennifer Allen and her husband, Peter, of Scarborough, ME; daughter Amy Heggie of Bath, ME; and “bonus” sons Shane Rybicki of Emmitsburg, MD and Mitchell Webb of Tryon, NC. He is also survived by his sister Sally Copeland, of Monterey, CA; first wife, Dot Grayson Heggie, of Bath, ME (mother of Bill, Jennifer, and Amy), and many cousins including Jim Heggie and Sandy Gallagher. He will be dearly missed by ten grandchildren who over the years adopted a chant, sung joyfully and in unison at countless family gatherings as they clambered over and around him: “Buppa is a hero!”

A celebration of Grant's life will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, September 14th at Rockfish Presbyterian Church in Nellysford, VA. A second service will be held on Saturday, October 12th at the Orchard Covenant Church (formerly the First Congregational Church) in Grant's hometown of Indian Orchard, MA, at 1:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to any of the following and note in memory of Grant Heggie:

 Dr. Craig Slingluff’s melanoma vaccine research at the University of Virginia: Mail check to “UVA Health Foundation” PO Box 37963, Boone, Iowa, 50037. Specify on the check memo line that the gift is for “Dr. Slingluff’s Research (account 18944)

 BridgeLine, serving the needs of head-injured adults: Mail check to 315 Winding River Lane, Suite 201 Charlottesville, VA 22911; or online https://www.thebridgeline.org/support/ and click DONATE

 Donors Choose: https://www.donorschoose.org; Select a project and an amount to give; click "in memory" donation underneath the project title in your checkout review screen; enter the name of the person you would like to donate in memoriam of; choose a friend or family member you’d like notified about the gift, called an "honoree" (they’ll also receive a thank-you note from the classroom). 

 Hospice of the Piedmont: Mail check to 675 Peter Jefferson Parkway, Ste 300, Charlotteville, VA 22911 and note donation is in memory of Grant Heggie.