Granby Obituary: Harry Chester, 84

Harry “Bud” Chester, 84, of Granby, beloved husband for 39 years of the late Grace M. (Lennon) Chester, passed away peacefully on Monday, January 1, 2018, in Granby.

Born in Hartford on May 23, 1933, son of the late C. Harry and Jenny Chester, he was raised in Hartford, attended Hartford Public Schools, and was a graduate of Bulkeley High School, Class of 1952. After high school, Bud enlisted in the US Navy and served on the USS Intrepid during the Korean War.

After his honorable discharge, he returned to Connecticut and worked as an electrician for New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad alongside his father. After his retirement from the railroad, he continued working in the maintenance division at the Cigna Insurance Company in Bloomfield.

A devout Catholic, Bud and his wife Grace were communicants of St. Joseph Church in the Poquonock section of Windsor and at St. Therese Church in Granby. He served as a minister of the Eucharist at St. Joseph Church and he and Grace volunteered in the recording studio at My Father’s House, a spiritual renewal and retreat center in Moodus.

He leaves a caring sister, Joan Navickas of Granby; a devoted nephew, Edward R. Navickas and his wife Marianne of Glastonbury; two loving nieces, Jean Marie Brietzke and her husband Scott E. Brietzke, MD of Hollywood, FL, and Nancy Ann Girardin and her husband Mark Girardin of Harwich Port, MA; two sisters-in-law, Patricia Gail Barnes of Southington and Joanne Lennon-Koronczyk and her husband Joe Koronczyk of New Britain; 12 great nieces and nephews; and many other loving nieces and nephews-in-law. Besides his wife and his parents, he was predeceased by two brothers, Richard and Robert Chester.

His family will receive friends on Tuesday, January 9, 3-5 p.m., at the Hayes-Huling & Carmon Funeral Home, 364 Salmon Brook St., Granby. Family and friends may gather on Wednesday, January 10, 10 a.m., at the Hayes-Huling & Carmon Funeral Home, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial, 11 a.m., at St. Therese Church in Granby. Entombment will follow in St. Mary Cemetery Mausoleum in New Britain.

Bud’s family has requested that memorial donations be made to My Father’s House, 39 North Moodus Rd., Moodus, CT 06469.