BROOKSVILLE – Thornton “TL” Gray succumbed early Tuesday morning, June 5, 2007, in Lake Worth, Fla., after battling a series of strokes. Mr. Gray was born in the front room at Breezemere Farm, on Orcutt’s Harbor. His mother was Julia Smith Gray, from a family of teachers for whom Smith Cove is named. She began taking in summer guests at Breezemere when TL was a young boy, while his father, Thurman, skippered his schooner, the Emilie Belle. TL was schooled in Brooksville, transporting himself to and from Breezemere in his high school years on his beloved Indian motorcycle, in good weather and bad. The son and grandson of schooner captains, Mr. Gray signed on after high school with several other Brooksville friends and relatives to crew on large, private yachts. He told many fascinating stories about his years on the Vanderbilt and Fisher yachts, sailing off Miami and in the Great Lakes. These happy years were to be the beginning of a professional life spent at sea. When World War II broke out, and the Vanderbilt yacht, Alva, was commandeered by the government for military use, Mr. Gray was offered, but declined, a commission in the U.S. Navy and signed on as an engineer with the tanker fleet of Sun Oil Co. Long before those who served in the Merchant Marines were belatedly accorded veteran status, Mr. Gray would remind anyone who would listen, that a higher percentage of Merchant Mariners perished in World War II than of those in the Army, Navy or Air Force. Mr. Gray himself narrowly escaped death when a tanker he was aboard caught fire off Staten Island, N.Y. Ten of his 15 shipmates were lost that night. On one of his trips along the east coast, at a stop-over in Providence, R.I., he was introduced by a fellow crew member to Edith Carstensen. They were married in 1947 and were to share full lives together for more than 50 years, their first half of those in Wilmington, Del., where their three daughters, Linda, Nancy and Cindy were raised and schooled. Mr. Gray was to become the youngest chief engineer in the Sun Oil fleet, keeping their signature vessel, the Sunoco, in continuous operation long beyond her projected useful life. He was retired in 1969 at age 52, because of severe hearing loss. He and Edie returned to TL’s home on Buck’s Harbor that had been built by his grandfather, Capt. George Gray, in 1895. TL had bought the house from his widowed grandmother, Lettie Gray, in 1940, for a modest sum and the promise, lovingly and faithfully kept, that he would take care of her for the rest of her life. TL later learned that she had spurned much higher offers from wealthy summer residents. He was proud to be one of very few Brooksville natives, many his relatives, who had retained ownership of their waterfront property. He loved to sit in the shop where his grandfather built yawl boats, looking down at Buck’s Harbor, checking his boats. He loved even more welcoming the many friends he had made over the years, and many strangers too, who came to make door yard calls. During his and Edie’s retirement years together in Brooksville, TL again bought a motorcycle on which they would frequently take day trips. After the traditions of his years at sea, TL kept a meticulous daily log in his tide charts, noting all of their trips and visits and other significant events. He loved to celebrate birthdays, particularly his own. The best of all of these celebrations was last June 28, his 90th birthday. That year, as in all prior years, he enjoyed reading the many cards and letters he received and tucked them all away for safekeeping. After he lost Edie to a heart attack in 1994, Mr. Gray continued their tradition of spending the winters in Del Ray Beach, Fla., in a condominium owned by his aunt. In recent years he became quite close with Marion Black, the widow of an old Brooksville buddy, Vernor Black, who had lived in Lake Worth, Fla. The last winters of TL’s life were spent with Marion in Lake Worth, Fla. Few who encountered TL in his last years were not told of his dream of buying a big, black Harley Davidson to ride around Brooksville. In addition to his parents and his wife, Mr. Gray was predeceased by two brothers, Carlton and Gerald. He is survived by three daughters, Linda Lindsay and husband, Stephen, of Wellesley Hills, Mass., and Brooksville, Nancy J. Gray of Hull, Mass., and Cynthia A. Gray of Brewster, and Winchester, Mass.; two grandsons, Penn Gray Lindsay and his wife, Siobhan, and Stephen P. Lindsay Jr.; a great-grandson, his namesake, Thornton Gray Lindsay, who begins the 14th generation of Grays in Brooksville. A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. Sunday, July 1, at Edgewood Cemetery, Brooksville. Contributions in Thornton’s memory may be made to the Peninsula Ambulance Corp., P.O. Box 834, Blue Hill, ME 04614. Arrangements by Jordan-Fernald, 141 South St., Blue Hill. Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com
THORNTON ‘TL’ GRAY
