Grady Edward Clay, III

Grady Edward Clay, III, passed away in his Denver, CO, home on June 7, 2014. Born May 6, 1943, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Grady Edward Clay, Jr., and Nanine Hilliard Greene, Grady is survived by brothers Ted (Ashland, OR) and Peter (Cortez, CO).
After graduating from Carnegie Tech with a degree in electrical engineering, Grady moved to Denver. He opened a "hobby shop" for Porsches which grew to become Rennenhaus, a shop well-known in the Porsche industry. Grady knew Porsches as street cars and as race cars. He was a regular parade entrant, won the 911 tech quiz numerous times, helped to stage a few quizzes, and was always present at tech gatherings. His driving career peaked in the 1970s when he shared a Garretson 935 at Sebring.
After closing the shop and retiring from racing, Grady began a second career as a classroom volunteer in Cherry Creek High School science classrooms. He found a new love mentoring students. Grady knew that every student could succeed, he just needed to convince the student of that. He tutored, encouraged, coached, and urged every child he met to work hard and do his/her best.
In 1989, Grady met Karin Hostetter and her 4 year old son, Christopher. They found many ways to explore Colorado with travel and hiking and raising Christopher. By the time Christopher was 9, Grady had passed his enthusiasm for racing to Chris and every weekend found them at go-cart races. This interest continued and grew from go-carts to full-sized cars until Chris headed off to college.
Grady's two passions for the last ten years continued to be Porsches and mentoring promising, but struggling students. He was the 911 technical guru on the Pelican forum, helping people around the world with sage advice. Grady also devoted time and resources to helping students struggling in math, science, and literacy to succeed in school and set their sights on college. He never tired of opening the world to young minds.
A celebration of life will be held at the Shelby American Collection Museum, 5020 Chaparral Ct., Boulder, on Sunday, June 29, from noon to 2 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Summer Scholars, 3401 Quebec St. #5010, Denver CO 80207 (www.summerscholars.org). Cards for the family and inquiries can be directed to Karin Hostetter,[email protected]; 720-234-5074.