Arthur Robert Gren, Iii

Arthur Robert Gren III, Senior Olympic biker, died in hospice at Keswick Multicare Centre on December 25th of complications from frontal temporal degeneration. He was 89 years old. He is remembered by his friend, Roxie Powell, as "a man of gentle nature and jolliness. He had a quiet, subtle wit. If you weren't watching for it, you might miss it. Art was on an even keel and he was always present”. Mr. Gren was born in Boston, Massachusetts, September 11, 1931. His father Arthur Robert Gren II ran the cigar stand at the famous Statler Hotel and his mother was Jacqueline Kall of Cleveland. She was good friends with Glenn L. Martin and on his invitation the family moved to Baltimore during World War II where his father worked at the now Martin Marietta plant. Mr. Gren attended St. Paul's School for Boys where he played football and sailed small boats on the Chesapeake. After the war the family moved to Williamsville, NY, where Mr. Gren graduated from Williamsville High School. He entered the US Army during the Korean war and graduated from Hiram College. He then worked in admissions at Case Western before moving to Jamestown, NY to help run the family beer distributorship business for Budweiser. He married the former Carol Hellein of Cleveland and they had two children. Mr. Gren sailed competitively on Lake Chautauqua for many years. In the early seventies he and his family relocated to Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire where they bought the Hansel and Gretel Shop, an upscale gift store, which catered to the summer colony. When his marriage ended in divorce he looked up an old high school friend, Adele Albrecht Wakefield, who lived in Baltimore. He soon relocated to Baltimore and the couple was married in 1990. Mr. Gren loved biking and in the 1980s and nineties he rode competitively in the Maryland and Virginia senior Olympics winning gold and silver medals. He competed in the National Senior Olympics as well. He also rode with a group of bikers the length of the Baja Penninsula in Mexico. For 10 years Mr. Gren and his family rode in the famous bike ride across Iowa known as RAGBRAI. He and his wife enjoyed skiing in New England, Colorado and the French Alps. His greatest love was sailing and he spent many years on Anam Cara, his 30-foot Nonsuch sailboat sailing the Chesapeake with family and friends. His wife praised him as "an accomplished sailor and navigator who brought his boat back to the marina no matter the seas or the darkness." Mr. Gren and his wife traveled extensively in Europe for many years. One year while visiting his brother-in-law in Paris, Mr. Gren who spoke little French, rode his bike from Northeast Paris to the Bois de Boulogne in Southwest Paris around the Arc de Triomphe with its 6 or more lanes of traffic. There are no painted lanes and there was no GPS or cell phones at the time. He is survived by his wife and his daughter Paula Gren of Georgetown, MA and six grandchildren. His son, Paul, died in 2017. Also surviving are two sisters, Barbara Briggs of Wakefield, RI and Jacqueline Burden of Dallas, TX and a brother, Jon Gren of Hilton Head, SC. Mr. Gren was a member of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, where a service will be held at a future date.