Biehl, Frederick Wagner.

Raised Episcopalian, Frederick Wagner Biehl openly questioned accepted beliefs concerning Christianity by the time he enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1918. After graduation from the Academy in 1922, Biehl accepted a commission as a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. During the 1920s, he continued to affirm his attraction to Eastern religions. At the same time, the young officer began his association with the secret order of the Rosicrucians, which had a significant influence on his approach to religion. By 1930, Biehl had left the service to attend the Unitarian Ministry School in Berkeley, California. After his graduation in 1932, he went on to teach "Divine Science," and continued to explore other faiths, including the Society of Friends (Quakers), and the Baha'i. In 1933, Biehl was invited to attend the Chicago World Fellowship of Faith, although with his ideas of "Integration" he was not an official participant. These ideas included the incorporation of multiple religions into one's philosophy, seeking a "truth" above the constraints of tradition. After W.W. II, Biehl took a job as a claims examiner with the state Unemployment Agency office in Galion, Ohio. Biehl spent the rest of his life in Galion, living in the home once occupied by his parents. He wished to concentrate his physical and mental efforts on spiritual matters. The last forty years of Frederick Biehl's life were spent writing, with a great deal of his energy focused on the creation of the William Montgomery Brown Cultural Center.