Bay Area Writing Project: <p align=center>Jim's Life and Legacy</p>

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Jim's Life and Legacy

To honor Jim’s life and legacy, we invite you to share your thoughts and memories.
We will gather and publish as much of your writing as possible on this page.

Jim Gray and BAWP were major forces in whatever success I achieved as a teacher and writer. The memories of him that flicker up most vividly are not our recent encounters at Asilomar conferences, with Jim appearing shrunken and having trouble calling up my name. Instead I flash back to his scintillating sense of humor. I can still see and hear him musing on situations that erupted during BAWP I (1974). Barney dropping the term "preterite" and Mary Kay saying she had never heard the term. Jim musing on how fine teachers can instruct effectively though coming from different generations and backgrounds.

I remember him chuckling about a paper that had been submitted to him early in his instructional career at UCB--a paper that sounded oddly familiar. After some digging, he discovered that it was a paper he himself had written, which had gotten into some fraternity file and traveled from campus to campus, ultimately ending up in altered but recognizable form on his desk. He had to credit the student on his astute choice of secondary sources.

I remember times of frustration when he spoke of finding a new line of work. When I asked him in what direction such a search might lead him, he quickly answered, "landscape architecture." He had just completed bricking the patio area of his home on Sycamore Valley and the project had been deeply satisfying to the inner craving for form, organization, coherence and unity that is reflected in his speaking and writing.

I'm sure we all will remember him with respectful affection.

Kerry Wood, BAWP II (1975)

This guy called Gray who had a memorable effect upon my life. He accepted me into his Outstanding Teachers summer course and saved me for the last when we did our presentations. And he let me spew my piece and he made me feel that there were truly humane people on the earth devoted to spreading humanity around. I had found a place for myself, artist and non-conformist that I was, in the profession of teaching, which I feel he, Jim Gray, exemplified.

It was in the BAWP summer course that I wrote a 20-page piece, published by Jim, in which I discovered the voice and beginning of my memoir Buffalo Nickel, a project which I had worked on for over twenty years. Gary Soto then published the piece I wrote for BAWP in his book, California Childhood, and Buffalo Nickel was cited in Masterpieces of Latino Literature. I have BAWP and Jim to thank for that.

Here's an anecdote about Jim: I was wandering around in my iconoclastic way one day when we had a visiting speaker. This man was talking to Jim in the hall and something made me go up to him and call him by his first name. I had never met him before in my life and couldnít have ever met him because he was from Australia, and also Jim had never mentioned his name. It was one of my rare, but telling psychic interludes, and Jim just shook his head and said, "Floyd, you're from another place." Jim wasn't surprised at all and neither was I and don't ask me where that came from, but I do know that it didn't phase Jim at all. He was from another place himself, and now he's gone to a place where we'll all go. That's all I know.

Floyd Salas BAWP Fellow 1984

I was saddened to hear of Jim Gray's death. I knew Jim from a slightly different perspective than so many others he touched through the NWP. Jim was my boss when I worked at the Bay Area Writing Project as the Administrative Assistant/Office Manager from 1980-85. I had the great fortune of working with Jim along with so many other great leaders in BAWP/NWP--Miles Myers, Mary Ann Smith, and too many others to name here. Jim was a true mentor to me and such a lively character! One day he walked down the hall and stopped at my office door. "I'm thinking of nicknames for people around here and I can't decide on yours-it is either 'Sparky' or 'The Puritan'". Now, you would have to know me and my professional personae to fully understand how hysterically funny "Sparky" was, and "The Puritan" was insightful in that Jim Gray kind of way as he told me when I left the Project, that he considered me to the conscience of the project. Hardly the case, but representative of the kind of support, guidance and excellent work environment which I experienced at the Writing Project. Jim was so "on the money", so much a man of insight and vision, an almost unexpected yet decisive leader, a great influence on my life. Thank you Jim!

Mary Schoenfeldt

While setting up a resource page for the teachers at De La Salle High School, I referenced the BAWP site and saw the notice of James Gray’s passing. James Gray was my high school English teacher at San Leandro High School in the late 50’s. His English class was my favorite class in high school, and I often think of that class and Mr. Gray, especially when attempting to offer suggestions to a new teacher in my capacity as Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Jim Gray opened a whole new world to a young girl whose first language was not English. He introduced me to new literature and to a world of words and ideas. He was a teacher who cared, a teacher who taught and expected me to learn.

Matilda Ignacio, Ed.D.

Few people are blessed with the ability to profoundly change the lives of many others. Jim was one of those people. Even fewer leave a legacy as rich and enduring as Jim's. I am grateful that I could share - in little - a part of his wonderful life.

Peggy Riley, BAWP TC

Heart-stopping news. As with a parent, no matter how long you see this coming, you're never really ready to have your landscape change so drastically. Deep honor and homage to that dear spirit.

Love, Catharine Lucas, BAWP TC

I am so sorry to learn of Jim's passing. I don't think anyone who worked with the Writing Project had anything but affection and respect for him. He was so bright and warm and honest and a true teacher. He was both a colleague and a role model to us all. I hope his family knows how much we all loved and honored him. I shall remember him fondly always.

Sincerely, Danise Chandler, BAWP TC

Jim was unforgettable from the twinkle in his eye to the force of his vision. I've always felt his hand held out to make me the best teacher I could be.

Grace Morizawa, BAWP TC

I am so sorry to hear of Jim's death--we all mourn his passing. I was fortunate to have met him and hear of the early years of BAWP and his vision of what good professional development for teachers could be like. The measure of his influence can be seen the regional writing projects and the passion teachers have for them throughout the country. He will be missed. My sympathies to all in the BAWP office.

Hector Lee, BAWP TC

I'm so sorry to hear the news. What a humble, visionary man he was. He always gave teachers the credit for BAWP's success. But it was through his visions that we are successful. He believed in us and publicly stated that belief to politicians, governors, congressional leaders, and the public, in his quest for funding and expansion of the BAWP model nationwide. I am richer and better for knowing him. I will miss his wisdom and his sense of humor.

Katie Johnson, BAWP TC

Thank you for informing us all of this sad event. He inspired so many through his vision and his book has been the required reading for all institutes. Do keep us informed of any memorials being planned. I know this is a personal loss for you and your project, and so my sympathy for each of you.

Martha Plender
Inland Writing Project, UC Riverside

Thanks so much for sending word of Jim Gray's passing. When I saw the subject line on your message, I had a deep-down sinking feeling of such news. What a week it's been, losing Rosa Parks, then Jim. Between them, we've been left quite a legacy, and the inspiration to keep on fighting the good fight.

Susan Freeman
Central California Writing Project, UC Santa Cruz

Thank you for sharing this very sad news about our beloved colleague and mentor. Please take some comfort in knowing that his legacy has been well-served by the men and women who have led us through turbulent times these many years. I have always been honored to call myself a member of the BAWP family and to be in the company of teachers who are impeccable in word and deed.

Blessings,
Sushanna Ellington, BAWP TC

I can't tell you how big the hole feels with Jim not in the world. I didn't know him well, but I respected him greatly; I'll never forget his memories of catching bass and crappie in the lake near Marysville. His legacy lives.

Smokey Wilson, BAWP TC

I am so sorry that I'll be out of the country on December 17. If there are to be readings, and time allows, would you or someone else please read this little piece I wrote for Jim some time ago (below). Anyone familiar with Jim's work on sentence modelling will know its origin --- and even if not, it comes from what he taught me (among other things), and it is as I saw him and loved him.

William Winston, BAWP TC

A Tribute to James Gray

“I did not know Francis Christensen, but I like to think of him in his university office, in the silent hours of the night, sitting, reading, surrounded by uneven stacks of novels and short-story anthologies, histories and collections of essays…poring over text like a nuclear physicist searching for subatomic particles…. I am indebted to…Benson and Gray for enlivening Christensen’s work and teaching me to see the possibilities.”

— NWP Quarterly, October, 1987
Altered Version (without additions)
Inside, they all sat around in the classroom. Out in the corridor, the three shadows had pushed their way through the crowd. Then Gray came into the room. He came across in an agitated state. He stood for a moment as if he were waiting for something. Then he spoke.
Original Version (with additions)
Inside they all sat around in the classroom, whispering hoarsely and peering from the corners of their eyes at the others who were gathered there, some in the doorway and some still shuffling distractedly in the airless tunnel leading to it. Out in the corridor the three shadows had pushed their way through the crowd, moving at first with conviction, then halting abruptly and shifting uneasily from foot to foot, tentative, transparent and overstated, a little out of form in their professorial garb. Then, cocking his head impishly and casting sharp glances as he skirted the three from behind and came across the threshold, Gray came into the room. He came across in an agitated state, belly heavy and hunched at the shoulders, but taller than expected, curiously imposing, steaming around the eyes, and breathing and mumbling with soft tuba sounds. He stood for a moment as if he were waiting for something, unmoving, his powerful hands clenching and opening and padding dully against each other, his eyes scouring the faces in the pale, rumoring light, his mouth working silently, the papers clamped against his side under his left arm beginning to slip almost imperceptibly before he deftly caught them. Then he spoke.
— William Winston

(based on Hemingway’s original version — a model from
James Gray’s original monographon sentence modelling)

As a monitor for the NWP federal funds in the late 1990s, I had the honor of meeting Jim and of seeing his legacy live on with Richard and MaryAnn and Jo and Carol and a host of people still reaching for that same star that Jim reached for all of his life. At his final meeting as chair of the organization’s governing body, he recounted his “teachable moment” one summer many years ago when he realized what the teaching of writing should be and the Writing Project was born. What he realized was that when teachers are motivated to work together, to help each other, to share with one another, magic happens. I would say that so far in my life I have had four great mentors—a high school English teacher who told me I couldn’t write and motivated me to prove her wrong, a college journalism professor who taught me to be skeptical but not cynical about the subjects of my writing, a college president who convinced me that I could do anything I applied myself to, and Jim, who taught me that a legacy is a living thing—a coral reef that continues to grow if properly fed and watered and protected. May the magic continue for all of you with Jim’s man-in-the-moon smile always shining beside that star we continue to seek to reach.

Thank you

Bob LeGrand
U.S. Department of Education

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