Amy Grant’s Father, Dr. Burton Grant, Dies
Dr. Burton Grant, the father of Amy Grant and father-in-law to Vince Gill, has died. He was 86 years old.
The Tennessean reports that Dr. Grant died around 12PM on Saturday (June 30), at his home in Nashville, with his family by his side. He had struggled with dementia for many years prior to his death.
"Walking our dad home has been a ten year journey, taking our family places we never imagined," Amy Grant wrote on Facebook on Sunday (July 1). "We are all closer because of it. I'm so grateful for my dad."
Dr. Grant was an oncologist; his father died while Dr. Grant was in his teens, so it was his mother who paid for his schooling. In her Facebook post, Amy Grant shares a sweet memory about the lasting impression that generosity left on her father: "Years after my grandmother passed, I found [my father's] graduation program in a box of her things with a note from my dad. It said, 'Mother, I hope I will serve mankind in such a way as to justify your faith in me. Love, Burton,'" Grant writes. "Well done, Dad."
Back in 2014, Dr. Grant was already in the advanced stages of dementia and no longer remembered his four daughters. Amy Grant has been open with fans about her family's struggle with her parents' dementia (Grant's mother also suffered from the disease), and how her husband helped her cope.
“Probably not a week goes by that Vince won’t say, ‘If you need me to hold you, just sit down here beside me and put your head on my shoulder,'" Grant said back then. "He makes me laugh and he holds me."
Dr. Grant was preceded in death by his wife, Gloria Dean Napier Grant; she died in 2011. He leaves behind four daughters, including Amy Grant, and their spouses; a number of grandchildren, including Gill's daughter (Grant's stepdaughter) Jenny Gill Van Valkenburg and the couple's daughter Corrina Grant Gill; and numerous great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have not been made available.
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