Calvin A. Frye, C.S.D.

Oil on canvas portrait by Linn Ball
Commissioned by Longyear Trustees,
Longyear Museum Collection, AW0227


CALVIN A. FRYE, C.S.D.
As a young man, Calvin Frye lived in Frye Village, now part of Andover, Massachusetts. The Frye family was active in the Congregational Church. While still a youth, Calvin was apprenticed as a machinist, a profession he continued when the family moved to nearby Lawrence in 1861. When he was twenty-eight he married Ada Bush of Lowell, Massachusetts, who passed on about a year later. Calvin and his sister, Lydia, became interested in Christian Science at the same time through the healing of a distant relative and their mother. He had Christian Science class instruction with Mary Baker Eddy in October 1881, at a time when eight of her students denounced her. This strengthened Mr. Frye's resolve to support Mrs. Eddy and serve her Cause. He was a member of her household longer than anyone else, from 1882 to 1910, serving in many capacities: as her secretary, bookkeeper, trustee of her different copyrights and property, and as her trusted coachman. During this period he had two further courses of class instruction with Mrs. Eddy and was present in her class of 1898. From 1912 to 1915 he served as First Reader of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Concord, New Hampshire, and, in 1916, was elected President of The Mother Church.

<< UP TO FRYE PORTRAIT

<< BACK TO PORTRAIT INDEX