Father Gilbert James Graham, O.P., was born in Dorchester, MA, on July 31, 1921. Father Graham ended a promising acting career at the Catholic University of America under the training of the late Father Gilbert Hartke, O.P., and Helen Hayes, to pursue a vocation in the Dominican Order as a Roman Catholic priest. He played the role of George M. Cohan in the stage production of Yankee Doodle Dandy that was later played by James Cagney in the film production and meet with him on the Hollywood set to share their experiences in that role. He maintained a close friendship with his childhood neighbor, Speaker of the House, John McCormick and through him knew the late President Lyndon B. Johnson.

From the day he entered the Dominicans in River Forest, he entertained his brethren and friends with stories and songs. He was given the religious name of Gilbert and made his religious profession On June 25, 1943. He was ordained on June 7, 1949 at Saint Pius V Church in Chicago. His first assignment was to recruit vocations for the Dominicans and work at St. Pius V Parish in Chicago. It was here that he developed a lifelong friendship with the late Mayor and Mrs. Richard J. Daley and family.

In 1964, he was elected Provincial of the Central Province of the Dominican Friars. His term covered the last year of the Second Vatican Council and the years that followed. The Council had mandated that all religious communities renew their rule of life and the Dominicans had planned to have their international meeting of renewal in Jerusalem in 1968, but the Six Day war in Israel the previous year made security for such a meeting impossible. Father Graham invited the members to come to Saint Thomas Aquinas Priory in River Forest, Illinois for the meeting of renewal. Over a three-month period, the entire Constitutions of the Dominican Order were revised due to the effective planning and organization of Father Graham and his staff.

At the end of the Chapter, the Master General of the Dominican Order appointed him the Director of Development for the Angelicum, the international study center of the Order in Rome. When his term ended in Rome, he took on pastoral duties at the Saint Jude Chapel in downtown Dallas, Texas. Throughout his years in the downtown chapel he befriended

some of the most influential and poorest members of the city. His door was always open to those who needed someone to listen in the heart of the business district. Due to advanced years and declining health, Father Graham return to the place where he began his priesthood ministry, Saint Pius V Priory in Chicago where he could receive assisted care. Later he moved to the Resurrection Life Center for additional health care that was needed and where he died on June 20, 2008. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at Saint Pius V Priory and he was interred in the Dominican plot at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.