Born Grayce Ritsu Kaneda in Stockton, California, Uyehara was the second of seven children and part of the nisei generation. She was a student at the University of the Pacific, majoring in music, when she and her family were imprisoned in the Rohwer internment camp in Arkansas after the signing of Executive Order 9066. After securing her release through a program allowing some internees to attend college, Uyehara moved to Minnesota and studied at St. Cloud State Teachers College, now St. Cloud State University. She then moved to Philadelphia and married a fellow former internee, Hiroshi Uyehara. While living in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the Uyeharas organized the Philadelphia chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), where Grayce became one of its first women leaders nationwide.
