Grace Gelvin Kisinger (1913–1965)

Grace Gelvin Kisinger, nee Maze, the youngest of six, was born in Ridgeway, Pennsylvania, to parents Henry and LaBelle (Sutton) Maze. She attended Indiana (Pennsylvania) State Teachers' College, majoring in music and minoring in English, and graduated with a BS in music education. Grace married Harry Elliott Kisinger in 1938. The couple did not have children.

Grace's writing career began as an author of greeting card verse. She quickly graduated to short stories and articles, published in periodicals around the world. Her first book, Enchanted Summer, a novel for teens, was published in 1956 by Random House to great success. She then wrote two novels for Thomas Nelson & Sons: More than Glamour (1957), and The New Lucinda (1958); and two for Macrae Smith Co: Bittersweet Autumn (1960), and Too Late Tomorrow (1962).

Sadly, Grace and her husband died by suicide from carbon monoxide poisoning on Dec 7, 1965, in Mount Lebanon, PA. They were found by police at home, deceased in their vehicle. Notes found at the home indicated how they wanted their belongings disposed but apparently did not give a reason for the joint suicide. The only insight offered to the public was that Harry was in poor health.

Grace's older sister, Margaret Maze Craig, was also an author, and the pair's careers closely mirrored one another: both wrote novels for teens (five for Grace, six for Margaret), with careers spanning the 1950s through early 1960s. Margaret, born a year before Grace, died the year prior to Grace, from breast cancer. But whereas coverage of her death prominently highlighted her success as an author, in contrast, Grace's writing career is never mentioned, probably due to the nature of her death. Grace dedicated The New Lucinda in 1958 to Margaret, writing "To my sister Peggy with love."