Dr. Isaac Graves
Isaac, a retired Detroit dentist, passed away in Richmond, Virginia on May 27, 2017. Dr. Graves received an honorable discharge as a captain in the U.S. Army Dental Corps. in the early 1950s after service with the Seventh Army in Germany. He opened his dental practice in Detroit, Michigan in 1955, serving patients in metro Detroit until his retirement to Richmond in 2005.
Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, Dec. 27, 1920 to Frank and Alice Graves, he was one of seven children, all of whom overcame the racial segregation of the deep south and made outstanding professional contributions in health care, business, military service, international diplomacy and education.
As a young military cadet at Tuskegee High School in Alabama, “ Ike” Graves served as honor guard to Franklin Delano Roosevelt during a presidential visit, an event immortalized in Life Magazine photographs showing him introducing President Roosevelt to Dr. George Washington Carver, the famous botanist and scientific innovator.
During college years at West Virginia State University, he met Olga E. Wilder of Richmond, Virginia. They were married Dec. 26, 1943 while he was a student at Meharry Dental School in Nashville, Tennessee. The couple had two sons, Ray Reynolds Graves, a retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge and Isaac Temple Graves, a respected writer and political consultant.
An avid golfer, bridge player and raconteur, Dr. Graves was active in the Wolverine Dental Society, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the Detroit chapter of The Guardsmen. His passion for the rules of golf and bridge added to the matrix of his courtly manners and dignified discipline, traits he instilled in his sons. Among his many aphorisms, he enjoyed the warning, “Even a fish wouldn’t get in trouble if he kept his mouth shut.”
Dr. Graves is survived by his wife, Olga Wilder Graves; his two sons; a brother, LTC Arthur D. Graves, USAF (ret.)(Jean), of Tuscumbia, Alabama; a sister, Gloria Graves Mahorney, of Washington, DC; three grandchildren; several nieces, nephews, and other relatives.
The family is following his wish for a private cremation and service.
