Dr. Grover C. Wright

Philadelphia Inquirer article Philadelphia Tribune article Grover Cleveland Wright’s life has been characterized by two pairs of relationships: leaving and returning to family and serving and urging the cause of reconciliation. He is both the fruit of his past and the seed of what may come.		Dr. Wright was born on April 18, 1916 in Thomaston, a small town in rural Alabama. The sixth of Gabe and Charlotte Wright’s thirteen children, he grew up in a sharecropper home where family unity and a drive for education were instilled into each member. It was of course, segregated education. The expectation, however, was that women and men who finished would use their knowledge and skill to help and improve the lives of their people.

The Wright family was known for integrity, diligence, and generosity. It was a family which could be counted on for helping and supporting others. Basic to the family’s life was a commitment to the love and power of God in Jesus Christ. Gabe Wright was a deacon in a Baptist church, walking with his children every Sunday and often on other days to the Black Baptist church. Six of the Wright children graduated from college. It was through Willis that Grover became acquainted with Lutherans. Willis went on to become president of Alabama Lutheran College and Academy (now called Concordia College), Selma, Alabama. During the Great Depression, Grover dropped out of high school to work away from home, but the pull of the family and the desire for education caused him to return. In 1935 he graduated from the county training school. In the ensuing years he worked as a packing house laborer and for a time joined the thousands of men and women in riding the boxcars as hobos looking for work and a better future. By 1940 he was in New York City and became a pullman porter. Dr. Wright knew, learned from, and contributed to the labor union movement, especially A. Phillip Randolph. These were tough days for Black persons and grim years of war. He served on the railroad, traveling throughout the nation transporting millions of servicemen. All through these years he maintained and deepened his faith, sharing his trust in God with fellow workers and soldiers. The times of travel gave little opportunity for a settled life. But Irma Serena Palmer changed that. In 1950 they married, set up housekeeping in Philadelphia, and soon became the parents of a son and daughter. Grover Wright’s desire to help boys and young men led him to work for the Boy Scouts between railroad travels. A local Lutheran pastor gave him a copy of Luther’s Small Catechism, encouraged him to come to worship, and soon the connection with the Lutheran Church led him to retire form the railroad (in 1968) to become a congregational parish worker who ministered to the Black community In Philadelphia. In 1968 Grover began his ministry in the Lutheran Church in America by being installed as Director of Christ Lutheran Church Parish House in Philadelphia. In this capacity he ministered to the Black community by developing a co-op nursery which met the needs of the individuals, church, and community. In preparation for a deeper ministry, Grover attended many seminars and conferences leading to a broader knowledge of the church and its ministry. The late 1960’s and 1970’s were confused and angry times, times of racial turmoil and confrontation. Grover Wright was in the middle of these events, seeking justice and reconciliation among Blacks and Whites in the name of Christ. He became an outstanding leader in Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod and was elected to its executive board. From within the synods and congregations he sought to establish a climate of peace while pushing for justice and cooperation between Blacks and Whites. In 1972 the newly formed Division for Professional Leadership of the Lutheran Church in America appointed him to be an associate director with special responsibilities for encouraging persons of color to be pastors and lay leaders in the church. He developed important programs such as Ventures in Ministry and Operation Understanding, was a key founder in the Association of Black Lutherans, and advocated in effective ways for Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans throughout the church. His personal style of caring, sustaining, and assisting especially young persons to be professional leaders in the church was both firm and persistent as women and men were enabled to enter colleges and seminaries during the 1970’s and to his second retirement in 1981. He still remains a key leader in congregational synodical life. But Grover Wright’s retirements have not led him to relax. He left the Division of Professional Leadership to become an outstanding leader among low and moderate income home owners and tenants in Philadelphia. He helped to establish and served on the board of directors of Acorn, a Philadelphia self-help, improvement, and advocacy organization which has assisted thousands of persons in need and which has renovated scores of homes through community resources. He has organized, demonstrated, pushed for justice, homes and jobs. He is a familiar, respected figure not only in City Hall but also on the streets and in the homes of many people in Philadelphia. Grover attributes his success to the understanding and loving support of his devoted wife, Irma, as well as his son Grover and his daughter Gail Elaine. They have helped to make his struggle become living reality. Grover and Irma are blest with five grandchildren Anthony, Jason, Sheree, Serena, and Samantha. At the present, Grover is the president of the BLACK LUTHERAN COMMUNTIY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (B.L.C.D.C.) B.L.C.D.C. is a non-profit organization of concerned residents of Philadelphia addressing the needs of single parent families. B.L.C.D.C.’s goal is to provide low-income single parent families with affordable housing and to further provide them with the support and assistance they need to become self-sufficient. The first four units at 2148-50 North Carlisle Street were completed in May 1989, and are fully occupied. In December 1993, another opportunity was rehabilitated at 2132 North Carlisle Street which yielded two duplex units which are fully occupied also. Along with housing, B.L.C.D.C. also provides numerous social services for their target community.

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HONORS AND ASSOCIATIONS

1966	HUMANITARIAN AWARD, Service to the Community “Chapel of Four Chaplains”
1966	DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD “Boys Scouts of America”
1967	SILVER BEAVER AWARD “Boy Scouts of America”
1970	MEMBER, EXECUTIVE BOARD, “Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, ELCA”
1978	MEMBER, BOARD OF SOCIAL MISSIONS, “Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America”
1979	SERVICE AWARD “BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY” “Association of Black Lutherans”
1980	WHO’S WHO IN BLACK AMERICA
1980	SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY AWARD “Neighbors and Friends”
1980	DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD “ABL Southern Region”
1981	HUMANITARIAN AWARD, SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY “Chapel of Four Chaplains”
1982	LIFE MEMBERSHIP, ABL NATIONAL
1985	DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS “Muhlengerg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania”
1986	CERTIFCATE OF APPRECIATION “ABL Baltimore Chapter”
1989	OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARD “Benjamin Franklin High School, Phila., PA”
1989	MEMBER (LHDC) “Lutheran Housing Development Cooperation”
1989	ELECTED TO SOUTHERN PENNSYLVANIA ASSEMBLY AS COUNCILMAN-AT-LARGE
1989	DELEGATE TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
1994	WHITTENBERG AWARDS The Luther Institute, Washington, DC