Halperin, Grace Eldridge.

Born April 17, 1914, Kansas City, Missouri; died August 21, 2001. Social work activist. Grace May Eldridge attended Kansas City Junior College from 1931 until 1933, receiving her Associate of Arts degree. In 1936, she began studying sociology at Central Methodist College in Fayette, Missouri, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938. She took graduate courses in social work at the Kansas City unit of Washington University in St. Louis and the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. Grace moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1944 where she worked for the Children's Home Society, an adoption agency, and the Medical Social Service Department of Los Angeles County General Hospital before returning to Chicago in 1950 to complete her Master of Arts degree at the University of Chicago, which she received in 1951. Grace married Lee Halperin, an electrician for the city, in 1958 in Chicago. Grace took care of Lee, who was diagnosed with skin cancer which worsened until his death in 1985. After moving to Evanston and as a result of her own difficulties in the long-term care of her husband, Grace became involved in several organizations and began advocating for health insurance reform and women's rights. In 1981, she joined the Older Women's League (OWL) through which she lobbied for laws that would provide health insurance benefits to divorced women. Grace also served on the Evanston Commission on Aging and the Board of the National Senior Citizens Law Center. In the early 1990s, she joined Equality Now, an international human rights organization that raises awareness about abuse and violence against women. In 2001, Grace published her memoirs, A Life Long Quest, through which she reflected on her life and how her personal experience with female genital mutilation at the age of four affected her physically and emotionally for the rest of her life. She also received numerous awards for her activist work for women and the elderly. Grace lived in the Mather Home, a retirement community in Evanston, from 1996 until her death.