Elizabeth T Wray

Elizabeth Treadwell Wray died on December 24, 2025, age 99. Beth passed peacefully, asleep in her room at Medford Leas, Medford, New Jersey with her daughter Amy by her side. She lived a life full of travel, family and friends. We are so lucky to have had her in our lives for so long; she survived her husband Joe David Wray by almost 20 years, and was in her hundredth year. We all miss her. 

Born Nancy Elizabeth Treadwell in Honolulu on September 19, 1926, Beth grew up in the small town of Hawi in the Kohala District of the Big Island of Hawai’i. Beth, and all who knew and loved her, always attributed her spirited and forthright demeanor to her upbringing in Hawai’i. 

Beth was the oldest of three children born to a father from East Texas who was a doctor in Kohala serving a large population of plantation workers, and a mother descended from British settlers who came to Hawai’i in the mid-19th century. From her childhood in a multicultural setting grew a deep sense of community and inclusiveness. 

A beneficiary of the Calvert Homeschool education system, Beth developed a life-long love of learning. Her Calvert education was followed by a high school freshman year at the Punahou School, before moving with her family to Marin County, California in 1941 where she attended the Katherine Branson School. She went on to graduate from Vassar College in 1948 with a degree in English Literature. All of her educational experiences combined created in Beth a passion for intellectual curiosity and personal growth. 

In 1951, Beth married Joe Wray, soon to graduate from Stanford Medical School. The two began married life moving around the United States for Joe’s pediatric residency and internship and celebrating the birth of their first two children. In 1956 Joe was offered a unique opportunity to become first chief resident of Hacettepe Children’s Hospital in Ankara, Turkey. 

Thus began many years of international travel for Beth and Joe, and their growing family, and a sense of wanderlust that continued throughout their lives. Beth was known to remark that being married to Joe was akin to having her own magic carpet that allowed her to see the world. 

Over the years, Beth gave birth to three more children as Joe went on to work as a medical educator and global health specialist for the Rockefeller Foundation. Following their time in Turkey, the family lived in Cali, Colombia and Bangkok, Thailand. Joe and Beth took full advantage of Joe’s international postings by traveling with their children to a wealth of countries, including Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Greece, Peru, Bolivia, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Laos, Burma (Myanmar), Sri Lanka, and France. 

During her years in Thailand, Beth developed a deep interest in Asian art history and gathered with a group of like-minded women to form the National Museum Study Group. The group was established as a way for members to study art history in depth, guide tours in multiple languages for visitors to the National Museum, and travel to sites throughout Asia to view the artwork they were studying. Founded in 1969, the group continues to this day. 

Beth’s passion for Asian art led to her collaboration with fellow Study Group members Clare Rosenfield and Dorothy Bailey on a project that culminated in the publication of their book, The Ten Lives of the Buddha in 1972. During their extensive research, the three women studied hundreds of Jataka Tales, stories of the previous incarnations of the Buddha, focusing on the last ten that are most central to Thai Buddhism, and featured in murals in Thai temples across the country. The book is illustrated with photographs taken by Beth’s husband, Joe.

Beth was justifiably proud of her work on The Ten Lives of the Buddha, recognized by academic scholars as a unique and historically significant treatise on the Jataka Tales, which have been the inspiration for art throughout Asia. The book preserved masterpieces of Thai temple painting and represents the best of this rich artistic heritage. 

Raised Episcopalian, Beth and Joe (raised Southern Baptist) were life-long seekers in faith, more interested in the questions, than the answers. During their courtship, in the early 50s, Joe introduced Beth to the Fellowship Church, an integrated church in San Francisco led by African American preacher and theologian Dr. Howard Thurman. They became Quakers (Friends) in the 60s. In Thailand Beth became a life-long student of Buddhism, and described herself later as a non-theistic Buddhist Quaker. 

In 1974, the family returned to the United States. After a year’s sabbatical in Palo Alto, California, they settled in Brookline, Massachusetts. Beth took a job as a technical writer for Hewlett-Packard, a position she held for 15 years until her retirement. During these years she earned her Master’s degree in counseling psychology. 

With their children grown and starting families of their own, Beth and Joe moved to the Quaker community of Medford Leas in Medford, New Jersey in 1998. They continued their passion for travel, visiting Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Bhutan, among others. Beth particularly loved Tibet, where at age 68 she participated in a 35-mile, 3-day circumambulation of the sacred Mount Kailash, ascending to an elevation of 18,000 feet. 

Following Joe’s death in 2006, Beth continued to travel with family and friends to countries including Iran, Finland, Norway, Morocco, India, Croatia and Japan. She regularly returned to her family’s homes in California and Hawai’i, organizing memorable family reunions with her children and grandchildren, as well as her siblings, cousins and nieces and nephews.  

Family and friends were always the highest priority in Beth’s life. Throughout her life, Beth was known for her generosity and hospitality. At Beth’s insistence, there was always room for one more person at dinner parties. Friends were welcome guests for a night or sometimes months. People could always count on Beth’s support and loving kindness. 

She maintained an extensive correspondence with the friends she made from her college days and travels throughout her life. Her family and the many friends she and Joe made around the world looked forward to their Christmas letter every year, filled with wonderful stories and pictures of their travels and adventures. 

Beth is survived by her children Ann Justin (Elliot Justin), Amy Caputo (husband Robert Caputo died December 18, 2025), Emily Frey (Luke Frey), and Ricardo Wray (Carol Wray). Her eldest son David died November 11, 2025, survived by his wife Ellen Benoit. Her grandchildren are Samuel Frey, Lily Frey Rosenberg, Grant Justin, Eric Justin, Eleanor Justin Krause, Nicholas Caputo, Matthew Caputo, Viola Wray, and Martin Wray; her eldest grandson Daniel Treadwell Frey died May 2, 2023; and her great-grandchildren are Francesca Salmoraighi, Osiris Frey, Elsa, Tobias and Josephine Rosenberg, Niam, Jiya, Ruhi, Nathaniel and Sadie Justin. 

We are planning a celebration of Beth’s life at Medford Leas on Sunday, January 11th, at 1pm. Please contact us for details. 

If you wish to make a donation in Beth's memory please consider a gift to Central Global Vision Fund to support further ophthalmic surgeries in Sierra Leone: https://centralglobalvisionfund.org/donate/ (click Donate, and enter Beth's name as honoree). Beth’s grandson, Grant A. Justin MD, an ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon with the US Army, works with Central Global Vision operating twice yearly in Freetown, Sierra Leone, offering otherwise unavailable complex surgeries. He follows in the footsteps of his grandfather Joe Wray MD, who spent years in global health overseas.