Graham Lee Collette, age 61, of Washington, D.C. and formerly of Wilmington, Delaware, passed away on July 10, 2022, surrounded by love with his family by his side.
Graham was a kind and gentle soul with a great smile and loved by many. He grew up in Wilmington and graduated from Tatnall High School (1979), but no doubt his fondest memories and childhood stories involved his escapades with his Pilot School friends.
Graham graduated with an Associate’s Degree from the Institute of Culinary Arts in Philadelphia in 1991, and after working at the City Club of Washington, D.C., he went to work at Emeril’s of New Orleans. When he returned to Washington, D.C. he continued in fine dining, then he became a Chef Manager for Sodexo for many years where he managed culinary services in senior living communities and at government agencies, and most recently at the F.B.I.
Unbeknownst to Graham, he grew up just around the block from his future spouse, Cathy; however, he did not meet her until his late twenties when they were introduced by mutual friends. After a few years in New Orleans, they moved back to Washington, D.C. and they spent the last twenty-two years focused on raising their two daughters who were the center of their universe, and to whom Graham passed on his passion for creating scrumptious food and appreciating all styles of music.
For twenty-seven years, Graham embraced all that D.C. had to offer, including museums, nature, local breweries, fine food, and golfing at Haines Point. He and his family enjoyed many wonderful vacations together with special memories in Guatemala, Dewey Beach, DE enjoying “dog hour” on the beach, Oyster Fests in Chincoteague, VA, at family reunions in Ireland, in Outer Banks, N.C., and very recently in Yellowstone, WY.
Graham is survived by his spouse Catherine Reynolds; daughters, Eileen Rose and Ana Lee; his father, John “Jack” W. Collette (Courtenay) of Glen Mills, PA; sister, Valerie C. Davis (Alonzo) of Jacksonville, FL; brother, Martin J. Collette (Susan) of Los Angeles, CA. He is also survived by his other sisters-in-law, Maureen Zito, Carol Rummel, and Eileen Staley, and brothers-in-law, Thomas Reynolds and Donald Staley and many nieces and nephews and cats Harold and Pepper. He was pre-deceased by his mother, Sylvia M. Collette.
A visitation will be held on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 from 11:00-12:00 pm at Chandler Funeral Home, 2506 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803. A funeral service will follow at 12:00 pm at Chandler Funeral Home. Interment will be at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Cemetery, Greenville, DE.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society https://givenow.lls.org/give/394054/#!/donation/checkout or The Pilot School in Wilmington, Delaware. https://pilotschool.org/giving/
Condolences