David Charles Gray, former area actor at Rumson’s Barn Theater, Part Time Players and the Haunted Mansion, Navy vet and nurse, passed away on July 13.

“As a child it was said if he didn’t straighten out, he would end up in Marlboro or in prison.  As it turned out, he was head nurse at both facilities … He dedicated his entire life to the care and well-being of others.”

Loved ones of David Gray in his obituary

David was president of the Class of 1985 of the Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing at Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy. He was board certified in General Nursing Practice by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in Washington, DC and was a graduate of the Monmouth County Vocational School as a C.N.A. in 1973 and as an L.P.N. in 1980 through a full state scholarship. 

He worked at Marlboro from 1977 until 1988. He worked in corrections at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution from 1990 until his retirement in 2013. He was night charge nurse at Bayshore Community Hospital from 2005 to 2009.

David was an avid scuba diver and an Associate Member of the NJ Historical Divers Association.  He volunteered at the NJ Ship Wreck Museum and the Info Age Science Center in Wall.

He was a former member of the Red Bank Volunteer Fire Department, Westside Engine Co.; and, he was cited for bravery in 1980 when he cleared a burning apartment complex in Ocean Township prior to the arrival of the Oakhurst Fire Department.

David was a U.S. Navy veteran, serving on board the USS Berkeley (DDG-15) with the Seventh Fleet off the coast of North and South Vietnam. He received a Letter of Commendation for saving the life of a shipmate, John Allen Kotera. His unit was awarded the Combat Action and Naval Meritorious Unit Citations for actions against the North Vietnamese in Operation Pocket Money and the mining of Hi Phung Harbor in North Vietnam.

He was a life member of The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and the last Commander of the VFW Navesink River Post 438, Red Bank, and a member of the VFW Post 2226 in Oakhurst.

A lifelong communicant of Trinity Episcopal Church, he sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and was a lay reader and an acolyte for 50 years.

David was the third son of the late Judge George A. Gray and Florence A. Gray. 

He is survived by: his darling wife of almost 35 years, Jennifer, and their daughter Patricia, whom he loved dearly; his two older brothers, George A. Gray III, of Ewing, and Dr. Richard M. Gray, of Long Branch; and nieces and nephews. 

A memorial service was held on Saturday, July 17, at 3 p.m. at Trinity Church, Red Bank. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Trinity Church, the NJ Historical Divers Association or the American Cancer Society. 

— Edited obituary provided by family via Thompson Memorial Home

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