1931-2003

MONROE – R. Paul Gray, 72, of Freeport died Friday, Sept. 19, while staying at his log cabin in Monroe.

He was born in Bar Harbor on June 3, 1931, the son of Harry E. and Phoebe Davis Gray.

He graduated from Jackman High School in 1949 and received appointments to both Annapolis and the Maine Maritime Academy, having been nominated by gentlemen he had guided on fly-fishing trips while working at Birch Island Lodge in Holeb.

He chose to attend the Maine Maritime Academy, but he would tell anyone that the biggest perk of being a fishing guide for Birch Island Ledge was meeting and falling in love with the lodge owner’s daughter.

Mr. Gray served in Korea on the Seventh Infantry Division, Thirty-Second Battalion, Dog Company, from 1952 through 1954, attaining the rank of Sergeant. He used to say that the only reason he got to be sergeant was that there was nobody left!

Shortly after returning from Korea, in 1955, he married his sweetheart, Nancy Gail Dyer, who, for the next 48 years, he always referred to as “my beautiful bride”.

They resided and raised their family in Gloucester, Mass., where Mr. Gray served as vice president of Waterworks Installations Corporation of Canton, Mass., from 1955 until 1979, when he returned to Maine as Assistant Superintendent of the Gardiner Water District.

In 1984, he became an innkeeper at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport, a family-owned and operated business, which started as a five-room bed and breakfast and grew to 84 rooms, two restaurants, and nine townhouses.

In 1995, he retired from inn-keeping and went back to guiding in the Maine woods, which was what he truly loved, having held both a Master Maine Guide license and private pilot’s license for over 40 years.

He was an ardent fly fisherman, and strongly promoted catch and release fishing. He was a great outdoorsman, father and husband, and took his family on many mountain climbing, rock hunting, gold panning, camping, and fly fishing adventures, and by doing so, instilled a deep love and respect of the woods and wildlife in his children, which was one of his greatest legacies.

His favorite times were spent with his family, friends and dogs at a remote log cabin he built on the shore of a wilderness pond, fishing the evening hatch and listening to the loons at dusk.

In his quiet moments, he was an avid reader and bird watcher, and could tame a chipmunk in less than a day and a gray jay in minutes. He was the toughest man with the softest heart we’ll ever know. Knowing him was both an honor and a privilege, and all who loved him will miss him terribly.

Surviving, in addition to his beloved wife Nancy of Freeport, are his daughter, Penelope Reed Gray of Carthage; three sons, Rodney Dyer (Chip) Gray and his wife Donna of Freeport, R. Paul Gray Jr. and his wife Linda of Windsor, Nathaniel Andrew Gray of Freeport; his brother, Harry E. Gray Jr. of Washburn; four grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; and many dear and wonderful friends.

He was predeceased by a daughter, Jennifer in 1963; his sister, Mary Lou Alley; and his favorite bird dog and faithful companion, Deuce.