Life Member Genevieve Grant Marks 100th Birthday

July 1, 2021

Genevieve Grant was five years old when her family relocated from Vancouver, Washington to San Diego, California. She began playing violin at nine years old, when music lessons were offered in public school. Although no one in her family was musical, Grant says that every Saturday evening she would sit by the radio and listen to the “Ford Music Hour.” It was then that she developed a deep love for music that, in turn, inspired her to teach, eventually earning a degree from San Diego State College.

A member Local 325 (San Diego, CA), Grant joined the union in 1946. After WWII, she performed with the San Diego Symphony at the time when it held only summer concerts. In the mid-1970s, when the symphony became a professional orchestra and began daytime rehearsals, she met her second husband Floyd Grant, an oboist. For Grant, teaching was an important part of her musical experience, and it was where she felt she could be most effective. She decided to turn her attention to teaching full time.

Grant worked for the La Mesa-Spring Valley School district for 28 years, 16 years in the classroom and 12 years teaching instrumental music.

In retirement, Grant performed with many chamber groups and quartets, remembering, in particular, a performance under the legendary conductor Daniel Lewis at Sherwood Hall. She continued to teach choir and direct a retired teachers chorus. Only recently, at 98, did she retire her violin.

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