Few
of us who currently work at the Alliance on Aging
remember Steve Grant. We know him only by reputation
-- as a legend dating back to the earliest days
of this agency. However, as the first Executive
Director of the Alliance, it is important to remember
his influence: for Steve left an indelible mark
on the shape and substance of the agency that persists
to the present day. In order to record his impact
on the Alliance’s history, a number of interviews
with Steve’s old co-workers and friends were carried
out during the fall of 2001. This research was incorporated
into the text of several speeches at a party honoring
Steve and kicking off the Stephen A. Grant Legacy
Society on October 28, 200l. A synopsis of these
interviews follows:
Long
before Steve Grant was part of the Alliance, he
lived an interesting life. He had been a paratrooper
in the Special Forces. He was first, a City Councilman
and later, Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea. He was a
member of the Monterey County Grand Jury, the Founding
President of the Scottish Society, the first male
member of the local chapter of the League of Women
Voters, and had many, many more affiliations with
local causes and charities.
However,
when Steve’s friends talk about his early days,
they always return to that first image…Steve the
paratrooper…Steve jumping out of airplanes over
France, over the U.S., and in the Far East. One
co-worker laughed and said she always imagined him
jumping into deep water -- with a huge splash on
impact and big waves spreading in all directions.
She thought that was the metaphor that worked best
to describe his impact on our community.
Lots of agencies, lots of good causes, felt Steve’s
impact, but it was the Alliance on Aging that took
the direct hit. Steve transformed the Alliance on
Aging forever. When
he became the first paid Executive Director in 1974,
the Alliance occupied two small offices at Monterey
Peninsula College. One room held the Friendly Visitor
and Information and Referral Programs. The other
held a desk for Steve and his executive assistant.
Their room was so small that, in order for Steve
to get to his desk, his assistant had to stand up
from hers and move out of the way. There were no
files because there was no room for a filing cabinet,
so all the agency’s records were kept in a cardboard
box in the trunk of Steve’s car. By
the time Steve left the agency five years later,
the agency had changed. Four new programs had emerged
– Senior Nutrition, Senior Employment, Health Insurance
Counseling, and Tax Assistance – all added during
Steve’s stewardship. The annual budget had grown
from $40,000 to $800,000; and the agency had expanded
off the MPC campus to outreach offices at Dickman
Avenue and administrative offices at the Park Lane.
We can assume there were even filing cabinets. However,
there was another side to Steve’s management of
this agency.
During
Steve’s directorship, he was on call…personally…for
many of the problems involving older adults here
on the Monterey Peninsula. Social workers knew it
and the police departments knew it. Social workers
would call Steve, even after hours, if a senior
needed food or transportation or emotional support.
A social worker would pick up Steve, and they would
go to the client’s home together and try to resolve
the problem. The Carmel police used to call Steve
if an older person had a car accident and was unhurt
physically but emotionally shaken. Steve would go
over and calm them down. Steve was hands on. His
original staff members describe Steve as “a leader
who was resolute and decisive, who identified goals
and accomplished them.” They went on to add that
he was “patient, honest, and a man of his word…even
while driving his staff to distraction with the
persistent irritation of the smoke from his pipe.”
When Steve’s acquaintances talked about his character
outside of the office, three points were repeated
over and over: First,
the scope of his interests was vast. Steve was fascinated
by everything in the world. Second, he made people
feel good about themselves. And third, he and his
wife raised idealistic children. Taken together,
these were Steve’s signposts to a good life.
In
conclusion, we share an observation from one of
his closest friends, who stated, “Whenever I talk
to Steve, he makes me feel that things will turn
out all right in the end, and that no matter how
chaotic, how bleak the moment, it is still not unreasonable
to be optimistic and to trust in the future.” His
friend added, “It’s the same trust that allows a
man to hold his breath…and jump out of an airplane
at 1,000 feet.” Steve Grant died peacefully on May
28, 2002, just seven months after the Legacy society
was formed to honor him. He was age 91.
