Jill N. Oxford62, of Grantham, NH passed away after a long battle with cancer.

Jill is survived by her husband of 17 years, Robert E. Oxford.

Daughter of the late Seymore and Sylvia Sussman. Sister to Carl Sussman and his wife Donna. Sister to Howard Sussman. Sister-in-law to Douglas Oxford, his wife Linda and family, Sister-in-law to Allison Monbleau, her husband Ron and family. Also, her uncle Arthur Israelson, aunt Ann Israelson and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews as well.

Jill grew up in Framingham, MA, the daughter of Seymore and Sylvia (Israelson) Sussman where she attended Framingham High School.

After graduating from Westfield State College in 1982, with a degree in education, Jill worked for K-Mart Corporation as a merchandise manager and spent some time helping to open stores and manage K-Mart's presence in Puerto Rico.

Jill came home from Puerto Rico, leaving her job with K-Mart, to help her mother Sylvia when Sylvia was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. Sylvia eventually recovered completely, and Jill went on to pursue a career in travel with the travel department at Filene's Basement.

The travel business suited Jill quite well and while selling millions of dollars of travel, she traveled the world, led school groups on trips, and met one of her lifelong friends, Marcy Baraban on a "familiarization trip" to Tahiti.

Jill eventually outgrew working for someone else in the travel business and launched a successful agency of her own, Vacations, Etc.

In 2004, she met her future husband, Rob Oxford, at a Mensa event and they married in October of 2005.

It was known that Jill had Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) and would eventually need to go on dialysis and if she were fortunate enough, she would be a candidate for, and receive, a kidney transplant. After about 3 years of dialysis from 2011 - 2014, Jill received a kidney on August 28, 2014, which would transform her life. Jill has long supported the PKD Foundation and organ donation. The transplant team, headed by Dr. Michael Chobanian, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was absolutely amazing and they followed Jill throughout the rest of her life. We are so grateful for their council and expertise. Jill got a new lease on life, was extremely grateful, and took full advantage of the opportunity she had been afforded.

Jill was an extremely caring individual. She was instrumental in finding care for her mother Sylvia when she was in need of care for the last 9 years of her life. Jill also worked with her husband to help find and provide long-term care for her father-in-law who passed in 2019 from complications from dementia and Parkinson's.

In addition, Jill traveled, introducing her husband to the pleasures of cruising in the Caribbean, Sandals in St. Lucia, driving through Yellowstone, Nova Scotia, and so much more.

Jill found a home here at Eastman in Grantham, NH. She was active in the governance of Eastman as an alternate representative to the board, as well as helping with "The Center Presents", chairing the 50th anniversary cookbook committee, service on the restaurant committee, and more. As one of her final acts, she helped found the Grantham Food Bank.

One of the things Jill enjoyed most was the "Wednesday Dining" series which she created. Jill invited people to come with us and explore different dining venues in the Upper Valley each Wednesday. We are thankful for all of the friends we have made through this group.

To describe every aspect of Jill's life here on a web page is, of course, impossible. I hope this gives you a little flavor of what she was like. She will be missed, but our memories will help to carry us through.

Services will be held on Tuesday April 4th at 4:00 PM at the Eastman South Cove Activity Center in Grantham, NH.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the PKD Foundation at: https://support.pkdcure.org/JillOxford


In loving memory,

Rob Oxford