Dr. Judson Clark Gray, 95, born Dec. 3, 1912 in Louisville, Ky., died Jan. 20, 2008 in Winter Park, Fla.
The son of George Gray and Mary Belknap, he was a descendant of Priscilla and John Alden as well as Benjamin Silliman, an eminent American scientist and founder of science at Yale University, and the William Belknap family of Louisville, manufactures and sellers of Bluegrass Hardware fame, supplying nails and tools to pioneers settling the West.
His youth was spent between Louisville, Ky., New Haven and West Cornwall, Conn., during which he went to Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Connecticut. He attended Antioch College in Ohio, class of 1937, and graduated from the University of Chicago where he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees. He took additional graduate courses in Psychology and Education from Harvard University before receiving his doctorate degree in Sociology from the University of Kentucky.
During World War II he served in the European Theater as a lieutenant. He taught at many schools including the Black Mt. School in North Carolina and the School of Organic Education under Marietta Johnson in Fairhope, Alabama where he met his wife, Claire Totten Gray. He also taught at The Francis Parker School in San Diego, the University of Louisville, Gallaudet School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut and Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.
Highly curious and a life long traveler, he visited India, Europe, Latin America, North and East Africa, Russia and China. When in his 60s, he joined the Peace Corps in 1973, and taught at The University of the South Pacific in Fiji.
With his family he summered for many years in Yelping Hill in West Cornwall, Conn.
Survivors include his wife, Claire Gray of Fairhope, twin daughters Nancy Calhoun of Cornwall, Conn., and Chris Gray of Roseland, Va.; two sons, Parker Gray of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and Benjamin Gray of Cornwall, Conn.; 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The family will hold private services.
