Grace Price Sherwood

HAVANA, Cuba – Grace Price Sherwood died in a tragic accident on July 17, 2025 at the age of 46. Born in London and raised in New Jersey, she had made her home in Maine but resided in Havana, Cuba. Grace was, by any account, an extraordinary woman.

She lived the first few years of her life outside England´s capital city, in Wimbledon, before moving to Madison, N.J. where she lived until the age of 12. While in Madison, N.J., she attended the Peck School and spent her summers at Estling Lake. Her family moved to an oceanside residence in Spring Lake, N.J. where Grace lived through her graduation from Manasquan High School in 1997. She then attended Colby College in Waterville where she thrived not only as a student but also as a rower, becoming the captain of Colby´s crew team before graduating in 2001.

Following the death of her mother, Jean Hoadley Peterson, and stepfather, Donald Peterson on Sept. 11, 2001, she married in 2003 and settled with her husband, David F. Sherwood, in a duck hunter’s cottage on the shores of tranquil Merrymeeting Bay in Bowdoinham. She loved nothing more than to cook for friends and family in the kitchen there, watching the ducks, eagles and osprey from a spectacular perch over the bay. She soon took a job at L.L.Bean, a Freeport outdoor company, where she rose quickly through the ranks to become the director of its raw materials sourcing department. She traveled the world in that role, visiting factories and making friends far and wide, from China and South Korea to India, Portugal, Mexico and Hong Kong. Together with her husband, a journalist, she relocated to San Jose, Costa Rica, in 2006, where L.L. Bean also had offices. There, her already accomplished career and love for travel flourished as she visited countries throughout Latin America for work and pleasure.

Grace was her name, but also, her nature. She moved effortlessly between countries, cultures, work environments and age groups, gifted with an uncanny ability to make friends wherever she traveled, worked or lived. She rarely spoke of herself. Her friends and family always came first. She never judged or criticized, preferring compassion, positivity and understanding. She was as dependable as the sunrise.

She realized a dream of becoming a mother when her daughter, Liliana Virginia, was born in 2014, followed by her son, Andrew David, in 2017. Opting to spend every minute with her children during their youth, she put aside a successful career and moved to Santiago, Chile, where her husband worked for the Reuters News agency. She raised Lily and Andy in the sunshine-filled parks of that South American city, exploring Patagonia and the Andes Mountains with her family and making friends at every turn. Later, she moved to Havana, Cuba, where the family lived in a 1940s home near La Puntilla, in Miramar, just outside the city. The house was a revolving door for Cuban friends of her family and children. She gave endlessly to her neighbors. Grace’s civic-minded spirit prompted her to volunteer for several roles on the parent-teacher board at the International School of Havana, where her children thrived. She rarely left their side.

In a letter to her daughter at summer camp the week before she died, she marveled at Lily’s bravery and sense of adventure and cherished her tenacity for learning, her thoughtfulness and passion for hobbies like dance, swim and student council. She told her husband that same week how much she treasured Andy´s innate kindness, his perpetual good nature and love of the outdoors.

Grace was unflappable, unflinchingly kind and caring, an immense light and a force for good in an otherwise turbulent world. She will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

She is survived by her husband Dave; her children, Lily (11) and Andy (8); sisters Catherine and Jennifer; her father, Richard and stepmother, Diane; and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Arrangements and guidance are in the care of Stetson’s Funeral Home and Cremation Care, 12 Federal St., Brunswick.

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of the Stetson’s Funeral Home website, http://www.stetsonsfuneralhome.com.

In lieu of flowers, we ask that you consider a donation to a fund we are creating in Grace’s honor benefiting the International School of Havana, where her children will continue to go to school and where Grace was to be the president of the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) next year http://spot.fund/mkvp91gsc

Alternatively, we would encourage donations in Grace´s name to the Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, a land trust that works to conserve the place she most cherished https://www.friendsofmerrymeetingbay.org/fombnew/pages/get_involved/membership.htm.