Lewes’s Gary David Wray, a noted Cape region historian, educator and patriarch, died this month. He was 78.
His greatest feat was leading the restoration of Fort Miles, Cape Henlopen State Park’s World War II military installation, and turning it into a museum. He also made his mark on the Cape Henlopen School District during his 30-year career as an educator, administrator and school board member.
But above all, Wray was a family man, according to those who knew him. His three daughters and nine grandchildren adored him; he was surrounded by many of them when he died Feb. 3.
Wray was born in the same West Virginia hospital as another notable Delawarean: Tom Carper. He grew up in the state’s capital city of Charleston, where he went on to major in history at Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston). After moving to the First State in 1966, Wray eventually obtained a doctoral degree in educational leadership from the University of Delaware.
“That was one thing I teased him about,” longtime friend and colleague Ray Bivens said. “Never has someone from West Virginia done so much to preserve and share Delaware’s history.”
In 2015, Wray told a Delmarva Now/Daily Times reporter, “Delaware has a rich history — not many people know about it — and that’s why I chose to move here.”
But his cousin, Ted George, said there was another reason.
At the time, Delaware had one of the highest teacher pay rates in the country, according to George, and Wray soon convinced him to move to the First State and take up teaching, too. They were lifelong friends.
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‘A big Cape supporter’
Wray taught in Caesar Rodney and Milford school districts, but where he really wanted to be was Cape, according to daughter Katie Schimmel. He spent more than 30 years there, retiring as director of secondary education. He served on the board of education between 2005 and 2010, and as president for three of those years.
“It’s community service — wanting to give back to the community that’s so good to you,” Wray told a Delaware Online/News Journal reporter in 2005.
He was instrumental in the building of the current Cape Henlopen High School, which opened in 2010, and helped create the Cape Henlopen Education Foundation, a nonprofit that funds various programs for Cape teachers and students.
Jenny Nauman, now assistant superintendent of the district, served as a principal when Wray was on the school board. She said she appreciated the knowledge and experience he brought to the table.
“He always challenged us as principals but really supported us at the same time. He had high expectations and wanted us to always do what was best for the kids,” she said.
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Nauman last saw Wray in December, as he dropped a grandchild off at school.
“He was in the car line and he made sure to get out of the car, come in and shake my hand, say ‘Hi, how are you?’ and let me know he’s proud of what we’re doing at Cape,” she said. “He knew the last two years have been really hard, and he said he’s been cheering us on from behind the scenes. That really meant a lot to me. He’s just always been such a big Cape supporter.”
In addition to his work at Cape schools, Wray a founding member of the board that chartered Sussex Academy in Georgetown. He also taught at Wilmington University, Delaware Technical and Community College and the University of Maryland.
Transforming Fort Miles
Wray his colleague, the late Leland Jennings, literally wrote the book on Fort Miles. The 128-page “Fort Miles” was published by Arcadia Publishing in 2005.
The two were among those who co-founded the Fort Miles Historical Association as they researched the book, in 2003. The Cape Henlopen State Park World War II military base was in bad shape at the time and would not be what it is today without Wray.
“The place was a mess, full of critters, and just about every kid in the area had at one time or another partied inside,” he told a Delmarva Now/Daily Times reporter in 2008.
INTERVIEW WITH GARY WRAY:Fort Miles eyes expansion, more outreach in 2015
FROM THE ARCHIVE: Fort Miles brings alive wartime history (2008 interview with Gary Wray)
He led a group of volunteers in cleaning up Battery 519 and the barracks and retrofitting them to appear as they were during the war. As the number of volunteers grew, so did Wray’s vision.
Leadership was Wray’s greatest talent, according to neighbor and colleague Cliff Geisler. He had drive, “seemingly endless energy” and was not deterred by resistance.
“You wanna talk a ‘Type A’ personality, he was a ‘triple A-type’ personality,” Geisler said.
Wray’s greatest hurdle at Fort Miles was likely the acquisition of a 16-inch gun barrel from the USS Missouri. The weight of the artifact made it expensive and complicated to move.
“At the time it was a tough decision, to take a big project like that on, because we were just starting work on the museum,” said Bivens, who worked alongside Wray as director of the state Division of Parks and Recreation. “There’s no way the park would have (the gun) if Gary Wray hadn’t had the interest.
“He just had kind of a magnetic personality. He didn’t ever see a challenge he couldn’t overcome,” Bivens said.
Wray served as president of the association for 17 years, growing the organization to almost 400 members and the overseeing the creation of the Fort Miles Museum. He was especially proud of the museum’s “bookends,” Bivens said of artifacts from the first and last day of World War II.
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“It will end up being a World War II tourism destination,” he said in a 2012 Delaware Online/News Journal story.
“Gary never gave up or passed up an opportunity to educate somebody,” Geisler said. “He used to sit out in front of the museum entrance where the gun barrel sits … and waylay people as they walked by, and pretty soon he’d have an audience.”
Family life
Wray had special, unique bonds with each of his children and grandchildren. One of Wray’s granddaughters, 18-year-old Abbey Christopher, worked her first job in the Fort Miles gift shop.
“He would sit on the bench by the big Missouri barrel and kind of lure people into the museum, tell them ‘Go visit my granddaughter in the gift shop,’ ” she said. “We did that basically every day of that summer. He picked me up, and we’d go to Fort Miles and do our thing.”
Wray was known by his family and in the community for driving his grandkids around. He called himself “Uber Pa Pa.”
He was an avid surf-fisher.
“I love the beach, and surf fishing. When I came here, my goal was to fish in every pond and lake in Delaware, and I accomplished that a couple of years ago,” he told a Delmarva Now/Daily Times reporter in 2015.
It was surf-fishing, in part, that lead him to purchase a timeshare in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. He and his extended family vacationed there each spring, creating now-cherished memories.
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Wray survived colon cancer in 2014, but was diagnosed with end-stage lung cancer in early December 2021. A few rounds of chemotherapy wreaked havoc on his immune system, Schimmel said.
Geisler likes to imagine Wray is now sitting on a bench outside the Pearly Gates, wearing his trademark baseball cap, Fort Miles hoodie and shorts, delivering a lecture on the history of heaven. He’s planning to create heaven’s first 501(c)3, Geisler said, and he will be its president.
Visitation for Wray will be held 3 to 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, and beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at Parsell Funeral Home in Lewes. A memorial service will be held there at 10 a.m. Saturday. The service will be livestreamed here.
