“It’s been a great journey of 74 years. At the end of the journey, you accept, ‘I’ve had my term.’ It’s been a great term.”
That’s how Jim Grant summed up his life of service to his friends and neighbors in Peterborough and the Monadnock region in a May interview, shortly after learning that he had an incurable disease. Grant, a longtime firefighter, teacher, businessman and community volunteer, died Tuesday, just five months after being diagnosed with mesothelioma, a type of cancer commonly caused by exposure to asbestos.
Over the years, Grant dedicated much of his time to Peterborough, the town where he grew up. His license plate, a gift from his wife, Lillian, reads “LUVPBRO” and he was known for his commitment to helping people, often working behind the scenes. In 2009, he co-founded the Peterborough Sunshine Fund, which provides emergency relief for townsfolk in need of a financial boost in tough times – anything from car repairs to dental work, to gasoline stipends to drive to medical appointments.
Grant, who was head of Peterborough’s Salvation Army, also started the Monadnock Worksource program in the 1960s and was the town’s longest serving firefighter.
“He had an absolutely remarkable life, a remarkable go at it,” said Peterborough Fire Chief Ed Walker on Wednesday. “Fifty-one years in the fire service is unheard of these days. The average expectancy for a volunteer firefighter or EMT is five years and you have someone that made it 10 times that period of time.”
Grant began his career as a teacher, working first at Dublin Elementary School and then becoming the teaching principal at Temple Elementary School. In 1985, he and Lillian started a company called Jim Grant Associates in their home, focusing on educational conferences and seminars. The company grew quickly, eventually becoming known as Staff Development for Educators and employing as many as 150 people. Grant’s motivation for starting the business, according to the SDE website, was “Jim’s personal goal of helping to create classrooms where all students can succeed.”
In reflecting on Grant’s life, Walker, who worked with Grant both at the Fire Department and at SDE, said his passing will be a great loss, not only from the Fire Department’s perspective but from the community’s as well.
“Jim referred to people that were giving and volunteered as ‘old souls.’” Walker said. “I think that Jim was probably one of the oldest souls around in that perspective. Involved in everything, from philanthropy and the overt stuff that he did to a lot of behind-the-scenes and a lot of things that people weren’t even aware he was involved in.”
Grant was instrumental in establishing the Walter Peterson Medal, which the town of Peterborough gives annually to someone who embodies the spirit of the former New Hampshire governor: devotion, integrity, compassion, citizenship, respect and honesty. Peterson, who was a longtime friend of Grant, was the first recipient of the award, and in May this year, Grant himself was pleased to receive the Peterson Medal.
“Many times the town has wanted to give this award to Jim,” said Select Board member Barbara Miller at the award ceremony. “And as many of you know, he is very humble. But this year, we said, ‘We’re not going to take no for an answer.”
Grant’s friend Roland Patten, a fellow medal recipient, quoted Ronald Reagan before presenting Grant with the medal: “‘There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.’ Jim lives by that.”
Grant faced his cancer diagnosis with equanimity, saying in May that he was looking at the time he had left as an opportunity to wrap up unfinished business.
“I am so grateful and at peace with putting closure on things,” he said. “I’ve got no regrets. I know I put back in more than I took.”
Grant’s obituary appears on page 9.
Editor Ben Conant contributed to this report.