Posted on: September 8th, 2023

Grant Gray: 2 Dec. 1941 – 9 June 2023

A celebration of life will be held in Gold Hill, CO, at the Gold Hill Inn, on October 2nd from 3:00pm to 6:00pm.

A long-time resident of Gold Hill CO and Marble Canyon AZ, Grant Gray, recently passed away.  He was fully engaged in life until his last few weeks.  Grant was in the midst of installing a large solar array on his property in Arizona, helped by his lifelong friends.  Grant was also fixing the pool, playing with his dog Che, working on a project for a company called SpecOps and making sure Mary, his beloved wife of 37 years, was happy and loved.

 

Born in Denver CO, Grant moved to Gold Hill in the late 1960s bartending at the Gold Hill Inn while attending The University of Colorado.  He loved Gold Hill second only to the Grand Canyon, where he worked part time for Moki Mac River expeditions. Grant’s 40-year white water rafting career was spent taking customers and friends through the Grand Canyon, often serenading them with his guitar.  Grant’s other career was as a weather radar engineer, mostly for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).  He designed and helped build many weather radar systems and extensively traveled the world on weather research projects, the final one was in Taiwan last year 2022.

 

Grant experienced some breathing problems which resulted in a short hospital stay in May.  He had an appointment with his cardiologist in June and was admitted to the hospital in St. George UT on June 8^th.  Grant died in the morning on June 9^th of complications resulting in heart failure.

 

Grant was a renaissance man.  He loved family, friends, physics, flying, white water rafting, world travel, the Grand Canyon, and playing & listening to flamenco guitar.  Grant and Mary’s family includes lots of brothers, sisters, brother-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and many cousins; he loved them all. He was a man of science who listened carefully and learned from everyone.  Grant’s kind heart and generosity made him an extraordinary person who loved life and lived it to the fullest. He will be forever in our hearts.

 

In lieu of flowers please bring thoughts, stories and/or photos of Grant.