Eastern Shore Remembers A Life of Service and an Education Legacy

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By Linda Cicoira — John “Jack” Gray would squint his eyes and wave his hands when he talked about something that was important to him. Two of those subjects, in particular, were county schools and his alma mater, ODU. But he was interested in everything having to do with his native Accomack County.

The former teacher, school principal, school board member, and county supervisor died last week, a day after his 88th birthday, causing hundreds to change their Father’s Day plans so they could attend his funeral Sunday, at Modest Town Baptist Church. 

Most people knew him as “Mr. Gray,” following the traditional way to address a teacher.

Mr. Gray was a teacher at Atlantic High School, which later became Arcadia, for six years. He served as principal at Parksley, Atlantic, and Arcadia High Schools for a total of 24 years; was on the Accomack school board for six years; and was elected to the District 5 seat on the Accomack board of supervisors for two four-year terms.

“I didn’t really know Mr. Gray that well until he was elected to the board of supervisors,” said Supervisor Grayson Chesser. “I knew him by reputation, which was good. I sat beside him for seven years. The only time I didn’t sit beside him was the year he was chairman. I’ve never met a finer gentleman in my entire life. He was just a good man. They don’t come any better than Jack Gray. Honest and honorable to a fault.”

“Mr. Gray couldn’t hear very well,” Chesser continued. “I could hear just barely better than he could and he expected me to interpret what was being said. That was really the blind leading the blind.” Chesser said, and laughed, and then added in a serious tone, “He was a pleasure to be with.”

Mr. Gray’s dream was to get local officials — those on the school board and on the board of supervisors — to renovate the former Accomac Primary School so it could be used for something instead of sitting there vacant as it has for years. That vision never happened. It is still owned by the school board and it is used for storage.

When Sheriff Todd Godwin attended Arcadia High School, Mr. Gray was his principal. “He cared about the students and he was all about Arcadia,” Godwin said. “He’s definitely going to be missed. When he got fired up, he could take that pen out of his pocket and it was like he was conducting an orchestra (or) like he had a magical wand. He was a good man.”

“What a fine man,” said Audrey Furness, a longtime member of the Accomack school board, said about Mr. Gray. She got to know him when he was principal at Arcadia and he would call her for help.

Mr. Gray had the perfect advice for a new principal who took over at Parksley High School after he left the post, Furness said. “You pretend every brick of this building is your own,” she said Mr. Gray counseled. “I understood because when something is our own we try to take care of it,” she said. “When he died he had to have had a contented and peaceful mind regarding education because he did everything he could. He always talked about education. I didn’t hear of negative comments about Jack Gray. He was into what he needed to do and he did it by the book.”

Accomack County is blessed that Mr. Gray went into education, Furness said. “He loved his community. He was a great, great person.” She said he encourged students.

Harris Phillips, who succeeded Mr. Gray on the board of supervisors, immediately released a written statement last week just after Mr. Gray’s death. “Today is a sad day for Accomack County with news of the passing of Mr. … Gray. He was a great man and a great public servant for more years than many of us have been alive. He loved our county and our schools and his guidance improved both.”

Phillips ran against Mr. Gray in the race for supervisor four years ago. He said Mr. Gray was his opponent and his friend. “Neither of us uttered an unkind word about the other and were gentlemen throughout the campaign. I wish there were more people like him, he was one of the great ones. My prayers and condolences go out to Mrs. Gray and the rest of their family. Rest in peace, Mr. Gray.”

Connie Burford, of Bloxom, wrote to the Eastern Shore Post about Gray, who was also her principal. She said he made an impression on her, she considered him her friend, and he encouraged her to run for school board. “He was an icon at Arcadia High School. As an administrator, he not only set the bar high, he raised it so high that most others after him have struggled to reach it. There will never be another like him who loved his school, the school system, and this county and its citizens as a whole.Mr. Gray was a devoted Christian who served as a deacon at Modest Town Baptist Church for 50 years. Furness said he was also the leader in getting baccalaureate services back at Arcadia.

“Jack Gray was committed to a life of service, especially to the northern end of Accomack County,” said Rose B. Taylor, the current principal at Arcadia High. “Even after retiring, Mr. Gray worked tirelessly to support and promote the work being done at Arcadia High School.  He was instrumental in bringing back our baccalaureate service and celebrating student success. He will certainly be missed.”

Joe Ferebee was a teacher at Badger, the vocational school at Arcadia High. “He was a very good man,” Ferebee said. “He was always the same. He had the children at heart. He wanted to make sure they did the best they could. I thought he always treated his teachers well. And he was a man, I would say, who started out as a lot of us on the Eastern Shore. He started out as a farmer and then got his degree and taught history.”

“I’m not sure he volunteered but he liked it,” Ferebee said of Mr. Gray coaching girls basketball at Parksley. Ferebee also said Mr. Gray often went to ODU women’s basketball games. “He was good church member. I would go with him to put the flags out in the cemetery for Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day at Modest Town.”

He married his wife, Barbara, a widow with five children, the youngest still in diapers, said Ferebee. “He did well by them. He cared for those children. They treated him as dad. He could always tell you a story… about them … The only pride I could say in his heart and his mind was his wife and sons. I taught two of his sons.”

Furness remembered how Mr. Gray took the new teachers under his wing. His wife was a bus driver. She would drive and he would be the spokesperson on a bus full of new teachers “from everywhere. That tells you how he loved his community. He’d show them points of interest … He would feature the things that were important. It would last all morning. At the end of the tour they would end up at a luncheon,” said Furness.

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