Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1930, Mannington, Marion, West Virginia
• Residence: From 1956 to 1964, Kisangani (Stanleyville), Congo

Notes:

Source: When the Lions Fed – Saint John Hostages in Congo (1964)
Article n. 310 by Ronald J. Jack (Public Historian and Web-publisher)

 In the summer of 1954, Sonia Black and David Grant were married in an obscure little church in West Saint John. She was 28 and he was 29. On the provincial registration document, beside "Occupation", each of them entered "Missionary". They had signed up for language courses and were preparing to devote their lives to mission work in the Belgian Congo. What they got themselves into, and who got them out, make for an interesting story. It is history worth preserving.
 [...]
 The pair of star-crossed missionaries were Saint Johners, through and through. Sonia Black was a Valley-girl, having lived at 262 City Road, almost in the shadow of the General Public Hospital. In fact after graduating from Saint John High School she enrolled in the Nursing School at the General, and was Class Valedictorian in 1947. She received her theological training at the Prairie Bible Institute at Three Hills, Alberta., a western institution with links to many churches in the Maritimes. Her Dad had been a gunner in one of the Siege Batteries in WW1 and returned to work with the C.P.R. Her mother had been office staff with T.S. Simms in Fairville.
 David Grant hailed from Red Head, just east of the city. He was a graduate of the Vocational High School on Douglas Avenue, and the practical knowledge he acquired there served him well in Africa where he built a seminary and a school. After graduation he took theological training with the Atlantic Bible Institute at Hampton Station, N.B. After falling for Sonia he proposed twice. The second proposal was that they devote their married lives to mission work, and their application was accepted by the Unevangelized Field Mission. The U.F.M. was a Christian umbrella group utilizing volunteers from multiple denominations and countries.
 Over the years tens of thousands of Canadians have washed up in some of the world’s danger zones, got in trouble, and had to be rescued. There is drama in bad luck, certainly, but precious little heroism. With Sonia and David Grant we have a different story. They were forced out of Congo by revolutionary blood letting, but could not sit on their hands in Canada while their students, patients an friends were under threat. After a period of recuperation in Saint John, consultation with family, and no doubt plenty of prayers, they went back in. They passed the test of character and they do qualify as Canadian heroes. [continue here…]

Sonia married Rev. David Lloyd GRANT on 9 Aug 1954 in Lancaster, Saint John, New Brunswick. David was born on 8 Dec 1924 in Saint John, Saint John, New Brunswick; died on 15 Jul 1965 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]