Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Grandy, John Walton, Jr. November 17, 1970
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Robert Woolfitt http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008401 November 6, 2025, 3:19 pm

Virginian-Pilot November 19, 1970
NORFOLK — John Walton (Pete) Grandy Jr., 86, of 920 Redgate Ave., a Norfolk 
florist and musician, died Tuesday in a hospital.
A native of Norfolk, he was a son of James P. and Mrs. Alice Pendleton Grandy 
and the husband of Mrs. Kathleen Spears Grandy.
He attended Norfolk public schools and Randolph-Macon College and graduated from 
Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1906.
Grandy founded Grandy the Florist of Norfolk in 1907, organized the Khedive 
Temple Chanters in 1915, and formed the Colonial Avenue Methodist Church Choir 
in 1920 and remained its director until his death.
For 45 years he directed the choir's annual presentation of Sir John Stainer's 
"The Crucifixion" during the Lenten season, and for 28 years he also directed 
the choir's presentation of Handel's "Messiah." Both events became traditional 
musical events for the Norfolk Lenten and Christmas Season.
Grandy also directed the music for the Norfolk presentation of the "Passion 
Play" and the Norfolk Preaching Mission's musical program for many years.
At the time of his death, he was a member and minister of music for Colonial 
Avenue Methodist Church and a member of its Board of Stewards.
Grandy organized the first citywide florist association in 1908, joined the 
Floral Telegraph Delivery Association in 1913, organized the group's Virginia 
unit, and was its first president in 1915.
He also organized Allied Florists of Tidewater in 1947 and was its president for 
seven years.
Grandy was instrumental in bringing the first series of Virginia Polytechnic 
Institute football games to Norfolk from 1915 to 1925.
He was a member of Norfolk Rotary Club, Atlantic Masonic Lodge 2, Norfolk 
Scottish Rite Bodies, Khedive Shrine Temple, and Society of American Florists 
and was president emeritus of Allied Florists of Tidewater.
Besides his widow, he is survived by a son, John Walton Grandy III of Virginia 
Beach; two daughters, Mrs. Jeanne G. Watkins of Midlothian and Mrs. Elizabeth T. 
Bledsoe of Honolulu; two sisters, Mrs. Alice G. Applewhite and Mrs. Ruth G. 
Lackey of Newport News; four grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
The body will be taken from Smith & Williams Funeral Home to Elmwood Cemetery 
for a funeral service today at 3 p.m. by Dr. Emmett W. S. Gowin of Colonial 
Avenue Methodist Church and Dr. John Hendricks.


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