Cynthia Ruth Ingraham

Former First Lady

of the Calvary Baptist Church

 

Cynthia Ruth Ingraham, is the daughter of the late John and Martha Grant.  Cynthia was born and raised in New Haven, and West Haven, Connecticut. She has two sisters, Mrs. Joyce A. Shelton and brother in-law, William H. Shelton, and Connie M. Grant who live in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Cynthia loves hymns, and she loves to sing. One of her favorite hymns is "The Old Rugged Cross" which was also her dad's favorite. She is a member of the Calvary Baptist Church and sings in the Gospel Chorus. She also co-teaches the Senior High Sunday School class.

Cynthia attended West Haven High School where she joined the West Haven High School Marching Band and the Concert Orchestra where she learned to play the flute. After graduating from High School, she attended college at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.  While there, she was a member in the UCONN Marching Band. In her Junior and Senior years at UCONN, she joined the Black Voices of Freedom Gospel Choir.  Since graduating from UCONN, she has worked in Administrative positions in Human Resources. She most recently worked for the Stale of Connecticut as an Affirmative Action Program Manager and Equal Employment Opportunity Specialist 2.

Cynthia's parents instilled core values in their daughters. They taught us to love the Lord.  They worked hard and they taught us, as children, to do chores. We each had household chores to do. They also insisted that we had to "get a good education" because "no one can ever take that away from you."  Our parents' mantra was to "learn all you can" and "learn to stand on your own two feet so that you don't have to depend on anybody to do things for you."

Cynthia met Rev. Jeffrey A. Ingraharn, when he was a student at the Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT. He was a Seminarian Student assigned to Immanuel Baptist Church where she was a member. Over the years they became friends and the rest, thank God, is history!

Rev and Mrs. lngraharn were married in August 1988. They were blessed to have two wonderful daughters, Kristan Joi and Bethany Faith.