Caltech Unveils Portrait of Grant D. Venerable (BS ’32)

A close up of the portrait of Grant D. Venerable (Photo – caltech.edu)

On May 17, Caltech unveiled a portrait of Grant D. Venerable (BS ’32), Caltech’s first black undergraduate. The painting stands in the front lobby of Venerable House.

By Julia Ehlert/Caltech

The unveiling celebration began with an outdoor ceremony in front of Venerable House. Caltech students, faculty, staff, and members of the Venerable family gathered to hear remarks by three people:

• Kevin Gilmartin, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English, Allen V.C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair of Student Affairs, and vice president for student affairs;
• Venerable House president and second-year undergraduate, Elin Stenmark;
• and  the artist, June Edmonds.

June Edmonds spoke about the creative process she employed while making the portrait.  “I wanted to paint two Venerables,” she said. “Venerable, the graduate of 1932, with his entire life ahead of him, brimming with hope and brilliance. I also wanted to paint the elder Venerable, who lived through all the love and the loss.

The portrait, which features landmarks and elements from throughout Grant Venerable’s. It includes the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company Building where he worked and met his wife, Thelma Scott; the McAlpern Hotel he owned and managed; the family’s Chandler car; and gears symbolizing the manufacturing plant Venerable would later own and manage.

After Edmonds’s remarks, the Venerable family and other attendees entered the lobby of Venerable House to view the painting.

(L-R) June Edmonds, Lloyd Venerable, Michelle Ellington, Billy Stinchcomb, Grant D. Venerable II, Stella Stinchcomb, and Lynda Venerable Ellington (Photo – caltech.edu)

The youngest Venerable, Michelle Ellington’s daughter, Stella Stinchcomb, ran through the crowd and up to the portrait of her great-grandfather without hesitation.  “I’m hoping someday we’ll have another generation at Caltech,” said Ellington, smiling.

Lloyd Venerable, the youngest of Grant D. Venerable’s three children, reflected on the culmination of his father’s time at Caltech.  “There’s an energy of change,” he said, recalling the eugenicist ideologies of past leaders at Caltech, whose names were replaced on campus assets in 2021. “Caltech saw that its history needed to be addressed. Just like this country. And it did something. That’s why I’m standing here today—that’s why we’re all here. There’s something very unique happening at Caltech.”

Source: Caltech. This article has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Stella Stinchcomb stands in front of the portrait of her great-grandfather, Grant D. Venerable (Photo – Julia Ehlert)