The Indomitable Graham Grund

You know that somewhat recent expression ‘been there, done that’? Well, it could have been written about the exploits of Graham Latimer Grund, because she probably has been there, and done that. More than once, even. But what sets her apart from the others who’ve been and done, is that she expects this next time to be different, and because of her high expectations – it frequently is! And, it’s never, ever boring.

Should she ever decide to run a marathon, Graham wouldn’t need any special training for it—she’s been practicing all her life! She’d just keep on doing what she’s always done. It’s the rest of us who’d end up in a basket. This spry and sprightly octogenarian could wear out teen-agers, while giving them lessons in exuberance, eloquence and endurance—not to mention gracefulness.

That’s not to minimize what she could teach the rest of us, either. Mercy! Just listening to a condensed version of her life’s adventures will drop your jaw in wonder and amazement. But yet, the listener hangs avidly on every word, for fear of missing some delicious tidbit.

And tid-bits there have been. Plenty of them!

Dad-Erwin Latimer- was from Cleveland. His bride, the lovely Celia, was a Southern Belle. Graham talks about them—and their marriage—as if it were all happening, only yesterday. “My parents showed such love to each other,” she says with a wistful smile. “They had fun together. But I think it was easier then, too, in that time between the wars.” The young couple lived at Moreland Courts on Shaker Boulevard. Graham, named for her maternal grandmother, was the first child. Two and a half years later, along came brother Erwin, with whom she is still very close.

Later, another brother, John, and a sister, Celia, came along, but the siblings bonded mostly by their age grouping: the older pair and the younger pair. Each set differed: the older ones being tall like Dad and dark-haired like Mom, while the younger pair was the opposite,—shorter like Mom and fair like Dad. Because Dad liked living near the water, the family lived in Lakewood for a while in the 30s. Even so, when the war started up in earnest, the family moved to Moreland Courts, leaving their boat anchored at Cleveland Yacht Club. “It was an easy hop on the streetcars,” remembers Graham.

“Streetcars and buses were not a novelty trip then, as we went everywhere on them. I rode from Lakewood to Hathaway Brown every day on the rapid transit.” The twinkle in her eyes at this remembrance lights up her face. “I wasn’t a great student, just not at all interested in getting A’s, but I usually did get Bs.” She liked theater and dance and music—loves she still holds dear today.

Like many children of privilege or near-privilege, the Latimer offspring were encouraged to participate in volunteer activities, rather than to work for pay. Dad was adamant on that topic, so after she was ‘finished’ (two years at Arlington Hall in Alexandria, Virginia) Graham’s first such venture was to read to blind students at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She helped them with their studies of all kinds. Then, a change occurred because of a friendship between her father and Dr. Toomey, a somewhat famous doctor at City Hospital (now Metro) known for his work with polio patients.

Carrying a rather large wicker basket, Graham distributed all sorts of medications (including drugs) to the various floors. This task occupied a minimum of three hours each Saturday, and she kept it for three years. The war came, and with it, a change of venue for Graham. She was enrolled in the Dyke School of Commerce, located on Public Square.

Her first job after graduation was for Mrs. Cairns, the City Manager of East Cleveland. Graham ended up working for a Mr. Weaver, who was the head of that city’s Detective Bureau, which had the first lie detector in the area. Graham worked as his secretary for a year, but over Christmas, she came down with the flu, and missed so much work, she was replaced.

She’d always liked the visual arts and thought she was a reasonably good artist, so her next job was for the Dickey-Grabler company at W. 103rd and Madison. (To this day, Graham is still one of the three or four people in Cleveland who are familiar with both the east and west sides of the city!) Although she wasn’t surprised to be hired as a ‘junior draftsman’ she was somewhat startled to discover the products produced by the company—casket handles.

With the confidence of youth, she assured her bosses she could handle the job. In actuality, she was so convincing that three months later, she’d been promoted to ‘personnel manager’ and secretary to one of the supervisors. Then, a new project came along—one which required the utmost secrecy. Kaiser Aluminum had a military contract, and each component was manufactured separately, with no one but Kaiser having all the information in one place.

Graham remembers the time she played courier. “We took boxes and boxes of goods in my nondescript car out to the airport, every day. We’d make several trips in order to get it all done. I drove my own car, but I was always accompanied by Sgt. Taylor of the Army who helped with the guarding and the unloading and all. Only later did we discover that what we were making and shipping to wherever, were parts for Bazookas! The various components were shipped to Africa from all around this country, and assembled over there.”

In 1944, she decided to go visit her youngest brother, John, who was stationed at the Merchant Marine Cadet School in San Mateo. One night, while preparing for the trip, Dad took his oldest daughter to the Mounds Club, a great gambling and socialite gathering spot out on Route 6 on Cleveland’s Northeast side. Graham thought she understood gambling, although Dad wasn’t too sure. She chose to play roulette, so Dad staked her to $50., but in short order she’d run it up to $550. At that time, it was enough to purchase the car of her dreams – a Buick Roadmaster Convertible. And away she went.

Graham lived in San Francisco for one year, attending symphony concerts and opera. She became a provisional member of the Junior League, and once again became a volunteer. This time it was on Tuesdays at the Children’s Hospital. Eventually she ended up working for the Marine Corps as a civilian in a job that required FBI clearance. Quite by accident, she discovered that men doing the exact same job that she was doing, were being paid more money. That didn’t seem quite right to her, so she started her own little campaign for equal pay. Never underestimate the power of a good woman. Graham won that battle, quite handily! And that was long before the days of women’s lib, too!

Shortly after the war was over, she returned home to Cleveland where she encountered David Grund, whose family owned the Henry L. Grund Company, which dealt with various raw materials such as plastics and paint. The young couple were married in 1947 at St. Paul’s Church in Cleveland Heights. Unhappily, there were no children of their own, but they were a loving aunt and uncle to many nieces and nephews.

Joyfully married for more than 50 years, they traveled and enjoyed many of the same activities; sailing, fishing, riding and the arts until David sold the company and subsequently became ill in the late 1980s. “David was excellent photographer, had marvelous slides of Sicily, Italy and Spain,” Graham says, a bit wistfully. After 46 years of suburban living in Gates Mills, they moved back to Moreland Courts. He passed away in 2004.

But Graham’s philosophy remained intact. “You can get what you want if you know how,” she states. She wanted to make a contribution, but wasn’t exactly sure in what way. She hadn’t really ‘worked’ since her early 20s, although she’d been a stalwart volunteer for many of Cleveland’s oldest and best arts and other civic institutions. Among other things, in the early 70s, she’d been the Co-Chair of the 1st fund drive for a Research Building for the Cleveland Clinic. At the same time, she was Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Cleveland Institute of Art, having previously held the same position for the Museum. A few years later, she was Chair of the 1977 Fund Drive at the Institute of Music, and then a founding member of the International Piano Competition. Graham knew nearly everyone in the community and they knew her.

When all these volunteer activities seemed to come to an end at about the same time, it seemed reasonable for Graham to go to Sherman Lee, then director of CMA and Joseph McCullough of CIA to ask for suggestions about something constructive for her to do next. While all three were visiting at Amasa Stone House (a residence for seniors) they realized that home-bound seniors had no entertainment to speak of, or else it was awful. Frank Caputo and Jerry Maddox (both of CIM) joined the discussion, and talked about the love for but lack of arts available to the disadvantaged senior community. At the same time, Cleveland is blessed with an extraordinary quantity of very gifted music and art students who want and need exposure in their chosen art field.

Graham’s closest friends have usually been—in addition to Board Chairmen of various organizations—older doyennes in the area: Kay Williams, Jeanne Hoffmeyer and Ligi Ireland among others. And we cannot fail to mention Richard Gildenmeister, who’s in a class by himself. It was Ms. Hoffmeyer who suggested that Graham talk to Caputo and Maddox about sending young musicians to entertain the elders. In 1990, Access To The Arts was founded, and in 1998, she added the first series of Arts on the Air dialogues with a who’s who of Cleveland’s finest in the various arts. Six or eight times a year, attendees are treated to a splendid meal, musical entertainment and a radio broadcast interview with questions between the featured guest and a knowledgeable questioner. Taped for broadcast later in the week, this series has been a staple on WCLV-FM since the beginning.

The guest list includes nearly every director of any arts group in the city, plus those in the civic and medical fields. They never fail to be enlightening as well as entertaining. In addition, Graham may take after her maternal grandmother who was clairvoyant. In the 1999-2000 season, the third presentation of the season featured ‘Three of Cleveland’s best and brightest new chefs’ one of whom was Michael Symon. (The other two were Brandt Evans and Doug Katz.)

Young musicians provide recitals to 10 residential homes for disadvantaged seniors plus three senior centers--Margaret Wagner House, Amasa Stone and Fairfax Place. “I started all this in 1991, because I needed something to do. I truly came out of the gloom into the sunlight. I’m just doing the way I was taught. I’ve been put in places I really didn’t want to go, but friends have been the joy of my life.” Her blue eyes sparkle and a huge smile lights up her face. “But, Access To The Arts has been the icing on the cake. And I just love cake!”

Today at 11AM, the second Dialogues of the season, featuring Gainor Davis, the new director of the Western Reserve Historical Society will take place at the Shaker Heights Country Club at 11 am. They might still be able to fit you in. Call 216-791-4654. Next month, on Tuesday, December 4, the special guest will be pianist Christopher O’Riley, host of the NPR radio program From the Top, which will be taped at CIM’s new Mixon Hall two weeks later. Tickets for the radio show are sold out, but there are still tickets available for the Dialogues event which will be at the Mayfield Country Club at 6:30 pm. Call the above number for tickets or visit the website http://www.accesstoarts.org.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net
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