Barbara Gray

Barbara Wilcox Gray

Resident of San Jose

July 24, 1917 to Dec 3, 2010

Barbara Gray was a member of one of the founding families of Santa Clara Valley: The F.A.Wilcox family settled in the Valley in the 1880s, and were orchardists here until the early 1960s. Barbara was born at the old San Jose Hospital, grew up in Santa Clara, attended Santa Clara High School, and was one of the early women graduates of the University of California, Davis. At Davis, she was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority and appeared on the cover of the University's catalogue in April of 1939 - on horseback.

After a long and formal courtship, she married Bill Gray, a recent SJS graduate in 1941, just prior to the US entrance into WWII - and shortly thereafter became an Army wife. The couple had numerous postings from Fort Benning in Georgia to Fort Ord. Upon Bill's deployment, Barbara took up work in the local war industry.

With the close of hostilities, Bill set off to law school at the University of Florida. Barbara was by his side, but never adapted to the formalities of the South. The couple's son, William H. Gray III, had joined by this time. The family returned to Santa Clara Valley, where Bill founded a title insurance company - Surety Title & Guarantee Company. The Company flourished during the halcyon days leading up to what we now know as Silicon Valley. He sold his interest in the company and retired in the early 1960s.

Farming in the Valley had become very difficult by the late 1950s and the couple spent much of the next decade relocating the Wilcox farming enterprise to the Sacramento River District - where members of the family continue to farm.

Barbara worked tirelessly for the less privileged. Among other interests, she chaired the board of an orphanage in East San Jose known as Eastfield's Children's Home. She also worked on behalf of the charities of PEO, where she was a 50 year member.

Barbara was preceded in death by her husband Bill in 1984, her brothers Frank and Irving Wilcox, and sister in law Jane Gray Jacobs and husband Bruce of Gilroy. She will be sorely missed by her family - her son Bill, a Professor and Dean Emeritus at Washington State University; her granddaughter Ashley Gray, a telecommunications researcher in Seattle; and her granddaughter Karlin Gray, a recent Peace Corps returnee from Senegal; and many nieces and nephews.

She will be laid to rest at the Golden Gate National Cemetery next to her husband. In lieu of flowers or other remembrances, the family invites contributions to Barbara's favorite interest: The California PEO Home, 700 N Stoneman Ave, Alhambra CA., 91801.

Beloved in life, and always a pillar of strength, may all who mourn her loss be sustained by the timeless moments of courage and kindness she bestowed upon us