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Elmon Taylor Gray (May 1, 1925 – September 27, 2011) was an American lumberman, real estate developer, philanthropist and Democratic member of the
Senate of Virginia The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Vir ...
from
Waverly, Virginia Waverly is an incorporated town in Sussex County, Virginia, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 1,955. History Popular legend has it that William Mahone (1826–1895), builder of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad (now N ...
.


Early and family life

Elmon Gray was born on May 1, 1925, to Garland (Peck) Gray and his wife Agnes Elizabeth (Aggie) Taylor. He attended segregated public schools, graduating from Waverly High School on the day of the
Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of t ...
, and began studies at the
Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...
in 1942. He left VMI in 1944 to join the
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
as an ensign, and served on a
minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...
in the
South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
until his discharge in 1946. He then returned to VMI and received his bachelor's degree in 1948. In 1990, he received an honorary degree from his alma mater. He married Pamela Spencer Burnside, and they had two sons (Bruce Burnside Gray and Garland Gray II) and a daughter (Kathryn Taylor Gray).


Career

Upon returning from World War II and graduating from VMI, Gray joined his father in the family lumber business, Gray Lumber Company, based in Waverly. He became its president in 1953, and in the following decades expanded its operations into real estate development in the Richmond suburbs. In 1992, as he retired from his part-time position in the Virginia Senate as described below, Gray Land & Timber Company sold substantial portions of the remaining timberland, and exchanged them for apartment rental properties, becoming GrayCo (which Elmon Gray headed until his death). He was also active with the Virginia Forestry Association (president 1969–71), the Reforestation Advisory Committee (1971) and the Ruritans. Gray also served on several board of directors, including on the Bank of Waverly, James River Bankshares, First and Merchants National Bank, Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO), and Universal Leaf Tobacco Company. Gray also invested in his passion, thoroughbred horseracing. Although Virginia approved pari-mutual racing in 1988, he and his consortium of investors were unable to secure regulatory approvals for a horse track in Hampton Roads. Active in philanthropic causes, Gray especially favored those with educational missions. He served on the VMI Board of Visitors from 1956 (and as President from 1964–66), as well as with the Sussex County School Board (1963–72), John Tyler Community College (1965–72), the
University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...
(Board of Trustees 1969–73) and
Elon University Elon University is a private university in Elon, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, the university is organized into six schools, most of which offer bachelor's degrees and several of which offer master's degrees or ...
(Board of Trustees 1990–1999). He also served on the vestry of his local Episcopal Church (having been converted from his grandmother's
Congregational Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...
to Christ Episcopal Church Waverly by his wife) and was a
Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a worker who lays bricks to assist in brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutti ...
. Gray also helped raise money for the
Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...
,
Virginia Historical Society The Virginia Museum of History and Culture founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history. It is a private, ...
, Appomattox Regional Governor's School for the Arts and Technology, Stuart Hall, the
National D-Day Memorial The National D-Day Memorial is a war memorial located in Bedford, Virginia. It serves as the national memorial for American D-Day veterans. However, its scope is international in that it states, "In Tribute to the valor, fidelity and sacrifice of ...
at
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
and the Southeast
4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times ...
Center in
Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...
. In 1971, his father decided to retire from his part-time Senatorial seat, as his longtime Southside district underwent a major reorganization after the 1970 census and a federal court order consolidating Norfolk and Virginia Beach senatorial districts into one three-member district in 1971. Elmon Gray succeeded to much of his father's 6th Senatorial District, now renumbered the 16th Senatorial District, and encompassing Price George, Surry, Sussex Counties and the cities of Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Petersburg. Re-elected four times, Gray served five four-year terms. In the Senate, Gray led efforts to improve higher education, and also thwarted efforts to curb abortion rights. He also led efforts to establish
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
's birthday as a state holiday, and protected the Southside economy, including truckers and gasoline retailers. Gray advocated a bridge across the
James River The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...
to replace the
Jamestown Ferry The Jamestown Ferry (also known as the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry) is a free automobile and bus ferry service across a navigable portion of the James River in Virginia. It carries State Route 31, connecting Jamestown in James City County with S ...
to aid economic development in Surry but the bridge was vehemently opposed by residents of a nearby upscale waterfront residential community as well as historic preservationists who were concerned that the proposed span would adversely affect the historical, environmental and visual characteristics of the Jamestown area. The plan was ultimately defeated when the Commonwealth Transportation Board unanimously killed plans for the span. Gray announced his retirement from the Senate upon receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis, and expecting major redistricting following the 1990 census (which also affected his friend and fellow Senator Howard P. Anderson of Halifax). Shortly before retiring from the Senate, Gray helped persuade Sussex officials to consider allowing a large regional
landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...
to open in the county as a revenue-raising opportunity. Gray then sold 700 acres of his timberland at $4,415 an acre, for a total of $3.1 million for the site of the landfill, which drew the ire of many of his constituents who didn't want this massive garbage dump in their backyard. At a public hearing in 1991 on the proposed landfill, more than 700 people showed up at the Sussex County courthouse to oppose the landfill. Gray, the largest landowner in Sussex county, became increasingly unpopular in Waverly and Sussex due to his support of the mega-landfill. A local preacher stood in front of his congregation and referred to Gray as "the enemy" and landfill opponents compared him to Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
at a protest against the garbage dump due to his determination to open the landfill over the stiff opposition of local residents, and the totalitarian control they believed he had wielded over local government for decades based on his wealth. The Gray family's
sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
, land and timber holdings were estimated to be worth approximately $100 million in 1992. Even in political retirement, Gray continued to lobby for a Jamestown-Surry bridge, for new economic development in Sussex, and to keep women out of his alma mater,
Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...
. "I never thought that any self-respecting girl would want to go there", he said of VMI and the lawsuit that would have required the all-male, state-sponsored military school to admit women. "Thank God the first phase went in our favor, but this thing is a long way from over", Gray said in 1991, referring to the possibility of appeals of the court's decision against allowing women into the school. The lawsuit was ultimately appealed all the way to the
US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
which ruled against VMI. After defying the Supreme Court order for three months, VMI's governing board ultimately voted 9 to 8 to admit women in 1996, transforming the nation's last single-sex state-supported school into a co-ed institution. After leaving the Senate, Gray moved from Waverly to a home overlooking the James River at Jordan Point in Prince George, and in his later years lived on
Monument Avenue Monument Avenue is a tree-lined grassy mall dividing the eastbound and westbound traffic in Richmond, Virginia, originally named for its emblematic complex of structures honoring those who fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil Wa ...
in Richmond. Gray survived his cancer diagnosis by two decades, his friend Sen. Anderson by more than a decade, and his beloved wife by nearly a year.


Death and memorials

He died on September 27, 2011, about two and a half years after receiving VMI's Harry F. Byrd Jr. Public service award in March 2009. His funeral was conducted by Rev. David Anderson, son of his late friend Sen. Howard Anderson. VMI has his papers, awards a scholarship in his name, and named its athletic stadium jointly after Gray and fellow alumnus Minor. At the time of his death he was a parishioner of Merchant's Hope Episcopal Church in Prince George.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Elmon Tayler 1925 births 2011 deaths Democratic Party Virginia state senators School board members in Virginia People from Waverly, Virginia Virginia Military Institute alumni Politicians from Suffolk, Virginia Military personnel from Virginia United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly