Dr. Helen Graham

The Rev. Dr. Helen Graham was born in England where she was trained as a Spiritualist Minister; she moved to the United States in the 1930s. In 1940 she moved to Rochester, New York, where she served in various local Churches, as well as in Lily Dale. 

In 1952 Plymouth Spiritualist Church reached out to Dr. Graham to lead their small congregation. With hardly enough active members to afford to keep the great building going, the state was able to acquire the property and planned to demolish the church to make space for the construction of the Inner Loop and County Jail. 

In an interview with the Democrat and Chronicle from 1953 Lewis M. Caves, then President of Plymouth Spiritualist Church, lamented that the dwindling membership was due to a series of Pastors "who didn't set too well" with the congregation. After a year of temporarily meeting in hotels and houses, in 1955 the Plymouth congregation found a new home for a new era. The property was not far from the original location, and was located on Flint St; it had previously belonged to the First Church of the Nazarene. 

With Plymouth settled in their new location, Dr. Graham stepped down as Pastor to open the Rochester Spiritualist Center located in the Powers Hotel. She lead her congregation for four years until her death in 1959.