Grace Lindley

Little is known about Grace Lindley’s (1875-1955) early life beyond the briefest sketch: Her Congregationalist and Presbyterian family converted to the Episcopal faith when she was a child, she was confirmed in 1889 at St. Barnabas’ Church in Irvington, New York, and her mother died when she was sixteen.

Although nothing is known of her own schooling, education was central to Lindley’s career. Initially, she focused on the education of young people, first as head of Junior Work in the Diocese of Newark and, second, with the Junior Auxiliary in New York. Later, she expanded her attention towards establishing mission training schools for women, ultimately seeing the opening of Windham House in New York City and the Bishop Tuttle Memorial School at St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also led Bible studies and offered meditations at Triennial meetings.

Lindley is best known for her leadership of the Woman’s Auxiliary after Julia Emery’s retirement in 1916. Having worked with Emery for eight years, she was the natural successor. She served as general secretary for three years, then shepherded the Auxiliary through its merger with the national church during the 1919 reorganization. Lindley was instrumental in ensuring that the Woman’s Auxiliary was affiliated with the National Council, allowing the women to expand their mission into new fields, instead of having its work restricted by attachment to the Department of Missions. In 1919, she was elected executive secretary of the reorganized Woman’s Auxiliary, a position she held until her retirement in 1940.

In addition to her work with the Woman’s Auxiliary, Lindley was a member of the Interracial Commission of the Federal Council of Churches, a member of the Council of Women for Home Missions, and served as Companion-in-Charge for the Society of Companions of the Holy Cross. In 1949, a pension fund for women workers was established in her name. Grace Lindley died on December 24, 1955.