Lincoln-Knox-Kennebec County ME Archives Obituaries.....GRAY, Oliver Crosby December 9, 1905 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/me/mefiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Bill Boggess william-boggess@webtv.net and Bill Boggess February 19, 2006, 10:43 am The Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Dec 10, 1905 (transcribed: 02/14/06) Copies furnished by: Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and Arkansas History Commission The Arkansas Gazette Eighty-Seventh Year, Little Rock,Sunday: December 10, 1905 COL O C GRAY HAS PASSED AWAY Died at Arkansas School for the Blind, in This City. Superintendent of School for Blind When He Died, and Had Filled Other positions of Prominence. Col O C Gray, superintendent of the Arkansas School for the Blind, and one of the best known citizens of Arkansas died at the blind school yesterday afternoon at 5:30 o'clock, after an illness of about six weeks, of cerebro-spinal meningitis. He had been in critical condition for the past three weeks, and his death was unexpected. The remains will be taken to Fayetteville for internment [Evergreen Cemetery], subsequent to services in the First Presbyterian church, this city, this afternoon at 3 o'clock. Record of a Busy Life. Oliver Crosby Gray was born December 30, 1832, at Jefferson, Me. He attended Colby College, Waterville, Me, and graduated in 1855. He was a classmate of the late Nelson Dingley, who as a member of Congress rose to the leadership of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Last spring Col Gray attended the fiftieth reunion of his class at Waterville. After leaving Colby Col Gray attended Dartmouth College for a short time. He then went west and located in Minneapolis, Minn. where in 1856-57 he was superintendent of the public schools. In 1858 he moved to Arkansas, and in that year and the year following was principal of Monticello Academy. [Records show it was Monticello, Minnesota, then in 1859 to Holly Springs, MS, and 1860 to Princeton, AR]. In 1860 and 1861 he was principal of Princeton [Female] Academy, which was at that time one of the leading institutions of the state. At the beginning of the civil war he enlisted as a private in the Third Arkansas Cavalry and served under Col Solon Borland, and later under Col Hobson. He afterward rose to the captaincy of Troop A of the same regiment, In the later part of 1864, as he was returning to his home on furlough, he was captured and was imprisoned in New Orleans and at Ship Island[MS]. Later he was exchanged and returned to his command and was made lieutenant colonel [highest rank attained was captain] on staff of Gen Armstrong. [appointed Provost Marshall Dec 1863].. All his service during the war was east of the Mississippi river, and served under Gens N B Forrest, Joseph Wheeler, and Jos E Johnston[and Gen Hood]. Prominent as an Educator. After the war he returned to Arkansas and returned teaching. In 1866 and 1867 he was principal of Princeton Female Academy, and then came to St John's College, in this city, where he was professor of mathematics from 1868 until 1871. [Ark School for the Blind erected its first brick building in 1869, honoring Col Gray, removed in 1948 for the Governors Mansion, with the old bricks reused]. He was later elected president of St John's College and served in that capacity until 1875, when he went to the university of Arkansas at Fayetteville and served as [first chair of civil engineering till 1879] professor of mathematics from 1875 to 1886. In 1887- 88 he was [Mayor of Fayetteville, -- in 1885-86 was principal of first school built, Washington School with Ella Carnall his able assistant]. He then returned to the chair of mathematics at the state university, which position he held until 1895 [1906 GRAY HALL was built in is honor, removed in 1966]., when he was elected principal of Arkansas School for the Blind. From 1899 to 1901 he was principal of the Speers-Langford Institute at Searcy and in the last named year was re-elected superintendent of the blind school, which position he held until his death. His administrations in every instance were successful, and he brought the state blind school forward until it now ranks with the best institutions of its kind in this country. Col Gray was twice married. His first wife was Miss Virginia L Davis [first chair of university's art department, 1875-1881], whom he married May 27, 1858. She died August 17, 1886, at Fayetteville. He was married the second time to Mrs Mary N Beattie, a daughter of Solon Bourland (sic, Borland), on June 17, 1889, by whom he is survived. By first marriage, Col Gray had two [three] children [first Clyde Leslie, 1859-1861, buried in Princeton with mother's father Capt Geo Davis] both of whom are still living. The eldest is Carl R Gray, one of the most widely known railroad men in the United States [1920, president Union Pacific RR, vice chairman in 1937, Trustee of Colby College 1938 to death]. He is present vice president and general manager of the Frisco system and lives in St Louis. He has been in Little Rock many times recently in attendance at his father's bedside, and arrived last Friday in response to a message announcing the seriousness of his father's condition. The second [third] child is Mrs Leroy [Ethel] Kramer, whose husband is associated with Carl R Gray in the railroad business [later president of world-wide GATX Corp]. Col Gray also has two living brothers, John D Gray, Stockton Cal, and Thomas Gray of Minneapolis. Mrs Gray has two daughters, Misses Grace and Mary and one son Godwin Beattie. Col Gray was a member of Magnolia Lodge, F and A M's Union Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Hugh de Payens Commandery, Knights Templar, and was one of the oldest members of the Scottish Rite bodies of the Valley of Little Rock. He was also a lifelong member of the Presbyterian church. Col Gray Was Widely Known. The news of Col Gray's death will cause widespread sorrow, as his long career in the schools and colleges gave him an extensive acquaintance throughout the state. His numerous pupils, many of whom are among the commonwealth's most prominent citizens, knew him but to love him, and it is doubtful if any educator in Arkansas ever made for himself a firmer friendship among his students than Col Gray. He was for a long time associated with St John's College, which was located in Little Rock and was for many years the leading institution of learning and was later connected with the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, at which he passed about twenty years of his life. With the exception of one term, he had been head of the Arkansas School for the Blind for past ten years. He always spent a very active life and despite his seventy-three years he had the energy of a much younger man. Col Gray was prominently connected with Arkansas and its affairs for nearly half a century,and his death removes one of the state's most useful citizens. His nature was as gentle almost as that of a woman. Among the well known citizens of Little Rock who were at St John's College are George B Rose, John M Rose, John W Blackwood, W B Worthen, S U Harrison, J E Williams, Thomas B Martin, L P Gibson, Chas Jennings, Frank Wittenberg, Henry Lesker, Julis Kemper, Horace G Daley and John Piercher, while out of the city Dr W B Lawrence of Batesville, Dr Eberic of Fort Smith, and D I Mills and M N Austin of Pine Bluff are among the number. Burial in Fayetteville. The funeral of Col Gray will take place this afternoon at 3 o'clock from the First Presbyterian church, and the services will be conducted by Rev J Endenburn. The body will be taken to Fayetteville on a special train for internment [Lot 144, Evergeen Cemetery]. The funeral will be under auspices of Hugh de Payens Commandery, Knights Templar, and he will be buried with Knight Templar honors by the commandery at Fayetteville. The pallbearers this afternoon will consist of Col Gray's former pupils at St John's College and three of his former pupils at the University of Arkansas. The music will be furnished by pupils of the Arkansas School for the Blind. Additional Comments: Oliver Crosby GRAY was born 30 December 1832 to Dr Peter Tufts GRAY, M D and Elizabeth Kennedy, a widow with three children, named for an uncle in Jefferson, Lincoln county, Maine. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/me/lincoln/obits/gray4ob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/mefiles/ File size: 8.6 Kb