Edna F. Grant

Grant, Edna Fay. (Rockland, Ontario, October 27, 1905--1981). Baptist. She moved with her parents to British Columbia, where she worked in various occupations until the onset of diabetes threatened her eyesight. Her doctor stimulated her not only to learn Braille, but to widen her range of interests. In 1942, she became national field secretary for Canada of the Women's Christian Temperance Union; after 1948, when blindness ruled out steady travelling, she continued at the WCTU's Toronto office until 1974, when she retired in theory if not in practice. She published privately two books of verse: Walk softy in springtime (1962) and All the trimmings (Christmas, 1973). The former has as its keynote her best-known hymn, which won second place in a Hymn Society contest for children's hymns.

--Hugh D. McKellar, DNAH Archives

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Edna Fay Grant has a special distinction; she is the first of the Society's new hymn writers who is blind. This limitation, however, does not keep her from a very active life. Her home is in Toronto, Canada, where she is Field Secretary for the Toronto W.C.T.U. She has six groups of children every week, and also directs a Camp during the summer. She has spoken to various groups from time to time in Schools, Sunday Schools, and other youth groups as well as working among adults. She is presently taking a course on Poetry Enjoyment from the Hadley School for the Blind in Winnetka, Illinois.

--Twelve New Hymns for Children, 1965. Used by permission.