Ship's Crew
Joseph Clark Grew II
Rank(s): Lieutenant
Dates of Service: 6/28/1965 - 4/28/1967
Birth Date: 12/20/1939
Joseph Clark Grew II was born in New York City on December 20, 1939. His namesake was his great uncle, Joseph Clark Grew, a United States ambassador who served in Turkey, Switzerland, Denmark, and was ambassador to Tokyo at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Ambassador Grew twice served as the under secretary of state, overseeing the establishment of the Foreign Service. The younger Grew graduated from St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts in 1958, and then attended Harvard College, where he graduated in 1962. His career in the navy began in 1962.
Grew commanded USS Constitution from June 28, 1965 to April 28, 1967. The ship was on display in Boston during this time.
After retiring from the navy, Grew served on the faculty at Groton School, and then as director of admissions and assistant headmaster and dean of the faculty at St. Mark’s School. He married his wife, Sarah (nickname Wendy) Loomis, on December 27, 1972. In 1978, he returned to school and received his Master of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served as rector of St. John’s Church in Westwood, Massachusetts from 1978 to 1982. Following that, he was called to be rector of The Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois and served there from 1982 to 1994. During this time, he completed his Doctor of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Divinity School. In October 1994, he was elected to be bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio. Grew retired in late 2004. In retirement, he continued to serve on many non-profit boards until 2023.
