| Grant Rhoads Sherk Jr. |
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2010
The Rev. Grant R. Sherk Jr., 90, an Episcopal priest who founded St.
Dunstan's Episcopal Church in McLean in 1956 and retired as its rector in
1986, died April 9 at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He had chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease.
Rev. Sherk was involved in teen outreach programs over the years. He
helped start Alternative House, a Vienna facility for runaway and troubled
teens.
In retirement, he served as interim rector at Washington area churches and
moved to Palm Beach Gardens from McLean in 1994.
Grant Rhoads Sherk Jr. was born near Norfolk and spent his teenage years in
Washington, where he graduated from Western High School in 1936.
After Army service during World War II, he graduated from the University
of Virginia with a bachelor's degree in 1948, and he received a master's
degree in foreign affairs there in 1950.
He received a master's of divinity degree in 1957 from Virginia Theological
Seminary in Alexandria.
He was a past board member of Shrine Mont, the diocesan conference
center in Orkney Springs, Va.
His first wife, Ellen Nesom Sherk, died in 1983. His second wife, Frances
FitzHugh, died in 1999. In 2002, he married Constance "Polly" Kelly.
Besides his wife, of Palm Beach Gardens, survivors include three children
from his first marriage, Marna Zok of Purcellville, Linda Postelle of Falls
Church and Grant Sherk III of Fork Union, Va.; nine stepchildren; two
sisters, Judith Wolfe of Aldie, Va., and Miriam Skillman of Richmond; a
brother, Neville Sherk of Purcellville; 26 grandchildren; and 11
great-grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
The Rev. Grant R. Sherk Jr., 90, an Episcopal priest who founded St.
Dunstan's Episcopal Church in McLean in 1956 and retired as its rector in
1986, died April 9 at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He had chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease.
Rev. Sherk was involved in teen outreach programs over the years. He
helped start Alternative House, a Vienna facility for runaway and troubled
teens.
In retirement, he served as interim rector at Washington area churches and
moved to Palm Beach Gardens from McLean in 1994.
Grant Rhoads Sherk Jr. was born near Norfolk and spent his teenage years in
Washington, where he graduated from Western High School in 1936.
After Army service during World War II, he graduated from the University
of Virginia with a bachelor's degree in 1948, and he received a master's
degree in foreign affairs there in 1950.
He received a master's of divinity degree in 1957 from Virginia Theological
Seminary in Alexandria.
He was a past board member of Shrine Mont, the diocesan conference
center in Orkney Springs, Va.
His first wife, Ellen Nesom Sherk, died in 1983. His second wife, Frances
FitzHugh, died in 1999. In 2002, he married Constance "Polly" Kelly.
Besides his wife, of Palm Beach Gardens, survivors include three children
from his first marriage, Marna Zok of Purcellville, Linda Postelle of Falls
Church and Grant Sherk III of Fork Union, Va.; nine stepchildren; two
sisters, Judith Wolfe of Aldie, Va., and Miriam Skillman of Richmond; a
brother, Neville Sherk of Purcellville; 26 grandchildren; and 11
great-grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein