Gracia M. Grindal

Gracia Grindal was born in Powers Lake, North Dakota and lived for three years in Tioga where her father was a pastor in the Lutheran Free Church parish there. Growing up in the parsonage she learned the hymnody of the Lutheran church, especially the Scandinavian tradition, and of the entire Christian church. The family moved to Rugby, North Dakota, then Salem, Oregon. She graduated from Augsburg College in Minneapolis with a BA in history and English. She then earned an MFA in poetry from the University of Arkansas. After which she became a teacher of English and Creative Writing at Luther College. In 1984 after earning an MA in History and Systematics at Luther Seminary, she was called to teach Rhetoric in the homiletics dept at Luther Seminary where she taught until 2013. Since her retirement she has continued writing biographies of Norwegian American immigrant women, hymns and poetry.