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A river runs though Gray's life

Doug Flanagan/Post-Register
Nov. 19, 2009

Peggy Gray, a retired nurse, is exploring the possibilities of attaining a master’s degree that would allow her to teach nursing in a variety of settings.

When Peggy Gray was a girl, her family, living in southeast Washington at the time, would take ferry rides across the Columbia River near Biggs, Ore., excursions that would often include the family’s horses.

She remembers one day asking her father what would happen if the ferry broke down. “Don’t worry,” her father told her. “If it does, we’ll hop on the horses and they’ll swim us across the river.”

Since that particular point in time, the Columbia River has been, in Gray’s words, “a uniting force in her life.”

That’s true for several reasons. Most members of her family live in various towns that hug the river just south of the Washington-Oregon border, such as Hermiston, Arlington and Cecil.

Also, her husband, Bob Gray, is a descendant of Robert L. Gray, an American sea captain and discoverer of the Columbia River.

In addition, another one of Bob Gray’s relatives, William Gray, was part of the traveling party spearheaded by missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman that set out from Missouri in 1836 and eventually ended up in the Pacific Northwest, where William Gray, Marcus Whitman and others traced their way up the Columbia River to settle mission sites, including the now-famous Whitman Mission near Walla Walla.

There are several more examples. Another connection: Peggy’s husband has built 13 boats, the last of which — a 49-foot Chris-Craft— he sold to a Portland area shipyard that plans to use it in the Columbia.

“It winds in and out of my life,” Peggy Gray said about the river. “It’s a strong connection. It’s with me everywhere. It’s like A River Runs Through It.”

Gray was born in Goldendale and grew up in the Yakima Valley, graduating from Granger High School.

After marrying her first husband, they moved to Anacortes, where she stayed for 25 years. In addition to raising four children, Gray worked as a licensed practical nurse; she had received a nursing degree from Lower Yakima Valley School of Practical Nursing in Grandview before moving to the west side.

Peggy married Bob in 2001, and the couple moved to George in 2005 to be closer to family — and the Columbia River, for that matter. For four years, Gray worked at Quincy Valley Medical Center as a nursing supervisor.

“The hospital is such a critical part of this area,” Gray said. “I’m so happy to see it doing well. The ambulance service technicians are great at what they do. They are really top of the line. I can’t say enough about them.”

Gray was encouraged to go into nursing by her mother and has never regretted the decision.

“I have always done well,” she said. “I guess I’m a natural at nursing. I’ve always been a take-care-of-you-person. And I just love people. I’ve always been a good helper, a leader who loves to serve. I’ve done it so long that I don’t know how to do anything else. I encourage people to be all they can be. I’m a cheerleader type of person.”

Gray is now semi-retired, but she certainly isn’t finished with nursing. She’s exploring attaining a master’s degree — perhaps through the Tri-Cities campus of Washington State University — that will allow her to teach nursing in some capacity.

“They have a degree in what’s called community- based nursing, which features an education module,” she said. “I would love to put nursing and teaching together. I could teach anybody from kindergartners to adults to nursing students. I could work for the health district, or initiate health education programs to teach to students. It would really broaden my scope, which I’m excited about.”

Gray is embracing some aspects of retirement, however. “I’m trying to slow down this year and look at my life,” she said. “I get to spend all this time with Bob now, and it’s just marvelous.

“He is, however, somewhat of an animal person.”

That’s a severe understatement. On their 20-acre ranch, the Grays have, by Peggy’s count, two mules, one pony, four horses, 83 chickens, nine cats and three dogs. “That’s enough,” she said. “I just let Bob do his thing. He’s like a Boy Scout. He’ll probably be 9 years old for the rest of his life.”