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BORN
1923
DIED
2020
Cecil GRAY Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for Cecil GRAY
1 Entry
PAMELA MORDECAI
April 1, 2020
Cecil Gray taught me most of what I know about teaching English. My friends and fellow teachers, Jacquie Briscoe and the late Grace Walker Gordon would agree, I am sure. I first met Cecil when I went to UWI in 1964-5 to do a Diploma in Education. I came in time to know Doreen and the children, perhaps Denise, who predeceased him, best. He was an ebullient person, a man of strong opinions who brooked no nonsense. He scorned pretension. A generous mentor and an affirming teacher, he rejoiced in his students' successes. With his guidance, I wrote my first play in that Dip. Ed year, and directed a performance of it. I am pretty sure he was the first to publish some my children's poems in the BITE IN series. We disagreed about some things but it made little difference. I was glad that, in his retirement, he had a chance to write poetry, for which we shared a great love. Indeed, I still have a Cecil Gray poem dedicated to me. I last saw him in 2012, with Irene, dapper as ever at nearly ninety, at a reading at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto to launch SUBVERSIVE SONNETS, my fifth collection of poetry. Many of us know that our lives would have been very different, had we never met you, Cecil Gray! Grace and I followed in your footsteps, collaborating on language arts textbooks for the Caribbean. I became a writer of poetry, fiction and plays. I am happy and privileged to be the first here to celebrate a formidable life that made a big difference to a whole heap of teachers and generations of pikni in the Caribbean classroom. One love, Cecil. Rock heaven, for now you know it's there!
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