Theodore William Graves Jr.

Theodore William "T.W." Graves, Jr. was born June 10, 1943 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. After his father's service in WWII, the family moved to Washington, D.C. and "Bill" grew up in Northern Virginia. He graduated from Annandale High School and attended both Washington and Lee University and the College of William & Mary. He was awarded a Shubert Fellowship in Playwriting, and graduated from the University of Virginia with an MA in Speech and Drama. After college, he created an award-winning recruiting film for the U.S. Navy, which included filming aboard the USS Ranger during operations in the Gulf of Tonkin. Afterwards, he taught Drama at the University Extension at Wallops Island and the U.S. Naval Shipyard in Norfolk. Given the nickname "Seth" by his students, he directed the first play that had been performed on the Eastern Shore since 1665. In 1970 he took a position with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and married Leontina Greiser. Their daughter, Thistle Dawn, was born in 1971. After the end of his first marriage, he was married to Mary Anne Lally in 1977, and their daughter Nora Ruth was born in 1980. In 1975 he was appointed Director of the IRC at UVA's Medical Center, and produced video programming there until his retirement in 1990. From 1990 onwards, he created films for many clients under the name Earth Communications Corporation. His production of "Mr. Jefferson's Rotunda" received an Honorable Mention at the American Film Festival, and an hour-long documentary about Patrick Henry aired on PBS. His capstone achievement was the Residential Building Trades series, a collection of instructional titles which are used throughout the U.S. at trade schools, vocational schools, Job Corps programs, and correctional facilities. T.W. enjoyed restoring vintage cars and motorcycles, and played electric guitar in a series of semi-professional bands for many decades. He is survived by his daughters Thistle and Nora, his brothers Gene, Lee, and Reid, and his grandchildren Tracer, Wynter, and Adam, as well as many nieces, nephews, and extended family. In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations in his memory be made to Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle and Hospice of the Piedmont.