Dictionary of
Unitarian &
Universalist
Biography
Charles Wesley Grady is a native of Lima, Ohio, born in 1925. He and his wife Claudine were founding members of the Unitarian Fellowship in their home town. He left a career in broadcasting to prepare for the liberal ministry at Meadville/Lombard and the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, graduating in 1966. His first pulpit was in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, a suburb of Saint Paul (1966-1969). He was called to the First Parish UU Church of Arlington, Massachusetts, in 1969 and served there for 21 years, retiring as Minister Emeritus in 1990. In retirement he accepted a part-time settlement with the UU Fellowship of Hendersonville, North Carolina, and retired fully in 1996. The Gradys continue to make their home in Hendersonville.
During his Arlington years, Grady was active on the UUA Ministerial Fellowship Committee, the original UUA Committee on Church Staff Finance, the Mass. Bay District board, the Universalist Historical Society, the James Luther Adams Foundation, and Collegium. He took a particular interest in the life and work of Frederic Henry Hedge, who was a distant predecessor in the Arlington pulpit, 1829-1835. He published several articles on Hedge, including a UUHS-sponsored lecture at the Atlanta General Assembly. Most recently the First Parish in Arlington published his history of the two Arlington liberal churches, Unitarian and Universalist, under the title "Arlington's First Parish: A History, 1733-1990."
Articles:
Frederic Henry Hedge
