Brooklyn Heights’ indomitable Grace Faison turns 100

‘When you plant a garden, you feel as though you have lived’

November 8, 2024 Mary Frost

Grace Faison at a party celebrating her 100th birthday on Sunday, Nov. 3 at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

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BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — “The reason you keep going in life is because of friendships, and being connected and caring for each other,” said Grace Gray Faison, 100, at a birthday party in her honor on Sunday. “All of you who have cared for me have meant so much to me and kept me going, and I just want to say thank you to all of you for being part of my life.”

Dozens of friends attended the event at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights, where Faison has been a devoted member and driving force for more than 70 years.

“Grace makes the centenarian club look good — triple digits, ten decades of trips around the sun, the way she raced past old to vintage. She’s been an extraordinary gift, like a fine bottle of … vodka,” Rev. Dr. Brett Younger said with his trademark humor.

Party-goers raised a toast, sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and cut the cake to celebrate Grace Faison’s 100th year on Sunday, Nov. 3. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

He added more seriously, “Eleanor Roosevelt, for whom Grace once poured tea, said, ‘Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.’”

There was deeper context to the tributes paid to Faison at the event, which celebrated not only her place in the history of Plymouth Church and Brooklyn Heights, but also her quiet assistance to others in a tight spot and her refusal to give up on lost causes.

Grace Faison played a pivotal role in establishing the ‘Lost Acre’ garden at Plymouth Church. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Redemption of the ‘Lost Acre’

Church leader Jim Waechter had tears in his eyes when he announced that Plymouth Church’s Bell Garden on Orange Street would be renamed the “Grace Faison Bell Garden” in honor of Faison’s birthday, her lifelong commitment to the historic church, and her pivotal role in establishing the garden.

As longtime head of Plymouth’s Garden Committee, Faison spearheaded the reclamation of the “Lost Acre,” a shady stretch of land east of the church’s sanctuary, and rescued the 1870s-vintage cast-iron bell that once hung in the steeple of Plymouth when it was located at 56 Cranberry St. The bell is currently the centerpiece of the flower-packed garden on Orange Street, at the entrance to the Lost Acre.

This bell from the original Plymouth Church bell tower marks the newly named Grace Faison Bell Garden. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

“Grace is a determined woman, as those of you who know her well have seen,” Waechter said to laughter. There are three gardens at Plymouth — the Beecher Garden, the children’s playground, and the “small, overlooked Lost Acre,” he explained. “That plot of land has become Grace’s favorite. Grace thought the Lost Acre had no purpose,” he said, tearing up a bit.

“I am so deeply touched,” Faison responded. “I can’t imagine anything else that would make me feel that I’ve spent some time on this earth. When you plant a garden, you feel as though you have lived, and you’ve enjoyed, and I’m so glad. And I thank you all so much for this honor.”

Plymouth Church leader Jim Waechter, left, with Rev. Dr. Brett Younger. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

‘Do it now and ask forgiveness later’

Waechter delved into the history of the bell in explaining the honor.

Plymouth’s current sanctuary facing Orange Street opened in 1850 after fire damaged the original church at 56 Cranberry St. in the late 1840s.

“There is still what is left of a bell tower” there, Waechter said. “You can see where a clock was — and that clock was actually the clock of Downtown Brooklyn, which was in this area at that time. The bell hung up there for over 100 years, and on Plymouth’s 100th anniversary in 1947, early in the morning, the bell came crashing down and landed in the basement. Plymouth, not wanting to ever get rid of any part of history, pulled the bell up and put it in the garden in the back,” where it sat unceremoniously for years.

Lisa Cangialosi, left, with Grace Faison. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

“Grace and [church member] Lisa Cangialosi, without telling a soul, got four men to lift the bell — it must weigh a thousand pounds or more — and take it out of that garden and around on the sidewalk. They had to remove part of the fencing where it is now placed, and they moved it in,” Waechter said. “Well, Grace is of the school of, ‘Do it now and ask forgiveness later.’”

Faison is obviously forgiven. A full dedication ceremony of the Grace Faison Bell Garden will occur in the spring 2025, when the flowers are in bloom.

Grace Faison, left, with Kathleen Wolf. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Sixth-generation Heights resident

A sixth-generation Brooklyn Heights resident, a member of the Heights Casino, a leader at Plymouth Church, a supporter of nonprofits, Faison’s life blends seamlessly into the history of the Heights.

She is one of the last who remembers Miss White’s garden — described by Brooklyn Eagle journalist Lore Croghan in 2013 as “one of the most extraordinary of Brooklyn Heights open spaces in private hands that anyone can remember.”

And like Plymouth Church, which was known as the “Grand Central Depot” on the Underground Railway, Faison knows how to keep secrets for a just cause.

A bell tower, now gone, can be seen in this 1940s NYC Municipal Archives photo of the former Plymouth Church at 56 Cranberry St. The bell is now the centerpiece of a garden dedicated to Grace Faison. Photo: NYC

After remaining silent for 50 years, she revealed to New York Magazine’s “The Cut” in 2022 that in the late 60s and early 70s she had secretly put up women in her spacious Heights apartment while they obtained then-illegal abortions.

She utilized her facade as doyenne of Brooklyn Heights to carry it off.

“Nobody questioned me. I was Grace Faison. My family lived in Brooklyn Heights. I had friends coming and going. We did a lot of entertaining in that apartment,” she told “The Cut’s” Eliza Gray.

Some things ‘flourish with age’

In a prayer, Rev. Younger said in part, “God, we are grateful for your gift of Grace, the friendship she shares, the wisdom of her years, the honesty of her advice, the experiences of a century, treasured memories, amazing achievements, countless stories.

“Thank you for the inspiring way Grace has weathered ups and downs, good times and bad, sorrows and griefs,” he added. “In a world where time rushes by, Grace’s resilience shows us that some things not only endure, but flourish with age. Her century of learning has transformed her life into a reminder to focus on what matters.”