Nancy Ellyn Gray

1932 - 2020

Nancy Ellyn Gray
Dec. 14, 1932 - Mar 15, 2020
Resident of Walnut Creek
Nancy Ellyn Gray, nee Bender, born December 14, 1932, died on the Ides of March, March 15, 2020 at the age of 87. Born in Bremerton, WA, to Renus Lewis Bender and Helen Thomas Bender. Pre-deceased by her husband, James David Gray (2014). Mother to Leslie Jann Filler, Betsy Gifford (David) and Brian Filler. Nana to Timothy Graves (Jennifer), Katie Goss (Danny), Margaret Tracy (Brent), Patrick Filler and step-grandmother to Dave Gifford. She is also survived by four great-grandchildren.
After giving one of the commencement addresses at her high school in Bremerton, WA, she entered the University of Washington at age 16. She graduated in 1953 with a B. A. in English and soon after left for New York City with her long time friend Verna MacLean.
Taylor Publishing hired her as an editorial assistant for her first job in New York. She met her first husband on a blind date in 1954. Their careers took them to Denver, CO where she took a job as a journalist at Fairchild Publications.
The family then moved to Seattle where, in 1965, she completed her M. A. in English at the University of Washington. She taught college level English at Green River Community College and Edmonds Community College. She was also a Vista volunteer, National Regional Director for the nascent National Organization for Women and a volunteer with the Kitsap County Council for Human Rights.
A long time lover of books she moved to England in 1976 and began her years long apprenticeship learning the used book trade with her mentor George. After leaving London in the late 1970's she returned to Bremerton and opened Interim Books, an antiquarian bookshop specializing in military and naval history and early Pacific Northwest titles. She scoured thrift shops for collectible books to sell at Interim and often enlisted her husband and daughters to lug boxes of her finds up two flights of stairs. She frequently traveled up and down the west coast,
from Vancouver, B. C. to San Diego, CA on her scouting missions.
At Interim, she met her second husband James. She accompanied him to Scotland after a Navy posting. In 1999, they married in San Francisco, CA.
She loved England and spent many summers taking courses at Oxford University. An avid traveler she spent time in Canada, the then Soviet Union, France, Spain and China among other foreign destinations.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances can be sent to the Alzheimer's Association. www.act.alz.org


View the online memorial for Nancy Ellyn Gray