Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Grillo, Catherine "Cathy" March 12, 2024
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Dorothy Strawhand http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008405 March 24, 2024, 6:46 pm

Virginian Pilot March 22, 2024

Catherine Grillo, 71, died on March 12, 2024, in her apartment home of many 
years, surrounded by the loving presence of friends and members of her Hope 
House Foundation Princess Anne support team.
She was predeceased by her parents, Benjamin (Biase) Bernard “Bennie” Grillo and 
Esther Catherine Coppola, and her sister, Eugenia Catherine Grillo.
Cathy was born with Down syndrome, but, blessed by the time and place of her 
birth, that condition didn’t define her adult life.
This because, in 1981, Cathy was welcomed into the brave new world of the Hope 
House Foundation.
Hope House was founded in 1964, by a group of parents of adult children with 
disabilities who were seeking an alternative to institutionalization.
A donated home on Granby Street in Norfolk became the first-in-Virginia 
community-based group home for adults with developmental disabilities.
Over time, Hope House recognized that the people they supported were interested 
in having more privacy, choice, and individualized interaction with their 
community, than traditional group homes offered.
By 1988, Hope House made the bold move to begin closing its group homes, to 
support persons with developmental disabilities in their own residences, in 
neighborhoods throughout the wider community.
Hope House remains the only organization in Virginia that exclusively supports 
people with development disabilities living in their own homes -- regardless of 
their level of disability -- and the only agency that conducts community 
fundraising activities (such as the spring and fall Stockley Gardens Art 
Festivals, Shamrockin’ in Ghent, the Chelsea West Fest Local Music & Makes, and 
the Tidewater Blue’z and BBQ) to supplement their publicly funded services.
Cathy was supported by Hope House Foundation for 43 years.
She lived in her own apartment, something that was not and is still not assured 
for a person with Down syndrome: living in her own place; able to make choices 
about her everyday life, about things most of us take for granted, such as what 
color to paint her walls, wearing a tiara if she felt like it, going where she 
wanted and when she wanted.
Cathy loved dancing, singing, listening to music, and collecting all kinds of 
things. She was a kindhearted, spunky, loving, and genuine person. She took 
classes at Old Dominion University, was a long-time participant in programs 
offered through the Norfolk Recreation Center, and the Louise W. Eggleston 
Center. She frequently attended the Happy Hour Class for special needs adults 
during the worship service, a special Sunday school class at the Wesley Grace 
United Methodist Church, in Wards Corner.
Thanks to Hope House and all these many local resources, Cathy was able to live 
an “extraordinary ordinary life.”
Friends will gather to celebrate a memorial service for Cathy, at 11:00 am, 
Saturday, March 23, at the Norfolk Chapel of H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments. 
This will be followed by a reception in Lloyd Hall, at Christ & St. Luke's 
Episcopal Church, Norfolk. Burial at St. Mary's Cemetery, Norfolk, will be 
private.  


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