Reverence for Life—Part 2

EXCERPT:

Fran Grady’s life was less public, but its impact was more personal. After seminary training he graduated Saint Mary’s College (Maryland) and became a VISTA volunteer in Baltimore, where he met Ann, his wife of 43 years. After moving to Boston he studied social work at Boston College and began devoting himself to neighborhood renewal in a city reeling from racial tensions, troubled schools, and a struggling economy.

That devotion, driven by what Ann called “his generosity of spirit, his keen interest in the world around him, and his positive thinking,” kept him active in a wide range of community initiatives even as he battled esophageal cancer.

…

Fran epitomized the kind of community activist who provides backbone to a neighborhood, making it resolute and resilient enough to counter adversity and carry on. His family loved him, but his reach was far wider than them. He was not afraid to stretch himself for a good cause (soccer, after all, was not his game), and his irrepressible enthusiasm enabled him to accumulate connections across a wide swath of Dorchester and Boston itself.

When he was waked at Saint Mary of the Angels, two things struck me. First, it was the right place for his wake, since his devotion to the community had always been faith-based; the church was his spiritual home. And second, the mourners who loved him reflected a range and diversity of American life that would be the envy of any true activist. He was revered because his life was the very model of a life devoted to “making a difference.”