Nativita Gracia

Nativita Gracia, of Waltham, died at home on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, surrounded by the children who had kept watch with her through her final months. She was at peace in the apartment they had made ready for her, with her rosary close at hand and her family at her side. she was 88.

Born November 2, 1937, in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, and raised in Port-au-Prince, she was the daughter of the late Lamartine Gracia and Elizabeth Helene (Eugene) Gracia. She was educated in Haiti and, while still a young woman, opened a general store in Port-De-Paix City, a market that sold groceries, household goods, and whatever else her neighbors needed. She traveled to buy merchandise, kept the books, and built a life for her family relaying on her own hard work and her faith in God.

Those who grew up with her remember a mother who was, in their words, the best mother ever. When she left on buying trips, the house felt empty. When she was home, she went to the tailor and had matching outfits cut from the same cloth for herself and her children. She was beautiful, elegant, and fashionable her whole life. Friends of her children often referred to her as Mom, and she welcomed everyone. To know her was to love her. She was also the person people trusted with what they could not tell anyone else. She was no professional counselor, yet she saved marriages and kept secrets that were never repeated. If two of her own children were at odds, it wasn't for long, she would make the peace. She kept the family tight knit and together.

Nativita came to the United States in 1978 and sent for her children by 1981. She would not live apart from them. For many years she worked in housekeeping at the Boston Marriott Newton, carrying the same dignity and care into that work that she had brought to her store in Port-au-Prince. She sewed by hand with a needle and thread and insisted that every stitch be perfect. She cooked for her family as if feeding them were a vocation, with pots that left her kitchen for other houses, food waiting when grandchildren stopped by, and, for years, Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners in the apartment hall for fifty or more: family, friends, coworkers, and anyone who had nowhere else to go.

Her faith was quiet and constant. She prayed the rosary. In her last months, from March until September, her children arranged their lives around her. One daughter stayed through the week; the other took the remaining days. Her son took time from work to drive her to appointments and to sit with her. They moved her bed so she could see the window and a photograph she loved. Grandchildren held her hands and kissed her face. And she showed her gratitude through her smile. Nativita’s life was measured in the people who came to her door, the meals she set out, the secrets she kept, and the children who would not leave her side.

She leaves her children, Magelere Gracia of Belmont; Anthony Gracia (Nanie), of Lowell; and Verlene Olsen (late Lars) of Norwood; her grandchildren, Jameel Gracia Roachford, Jordan Gracia (Lauren), Joseph Gracia, Joshua Gracia, Tonisha Gracia, Raymond Lamothe (Christina), Karl Handy Lamothe, and Samy Lamothe; and her great-grandchildren, Skailyn Roachford, Soleil Roachford, Jamir Roachford, and Maxwell Gracia Hyott; her siblings Marcelle Etesse, Paula Gracia, Yves Gracia, and Ysny Gracia, and by many nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her siblings Amalia Gracia, Camila Gracia, Lamartiniere Gracia, Anton Gracia, and Rosanne Gracia.

Family and friends will honor and remember Nativita’s life by gathering for her Funeral Mass in Saint Mary’s Church, 133 School Street, Waltham, on Friday, September 25th at 10 a.m. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett.