Paul R. Bray

In 1953, his family moved from Northville to Boyne City, Michigan. He spent the next eight years downhill skiing, playing baseball, football and the coronet for his high school band and, by his own account, running roughshod with his friends throughout the town. In 1961, he left for Michigan State University, which began a life-long loyalty to the school and its sports teams, particularly MSU basketball and football, the latter which he once likened to watching “a thirty-year root canal.”

In his last year of college, Paul enlisted as a Marine and spent 13 months in Vietnam. Afterward, he completed his undergraduate degree and, later, a Master’s degree from Central Michigan University. For nearly thirty years, he taught a wide range of English classes (British Literature, creative writing, speech – to name a few), first at Thunder Bay Junior High and later at Alpena High School and Alpena Community College. As a teacher, he influenced thousands of students, and one of the bright lights near the end of his life included many of his caregivers and nurses sharing their stories of having him for English class. Among his lesser known activities was his fours years spent coaching an Ella White Elementary School basketball team.

Paul Bray loved a great number of things – well-written books of almost any genre, binging television shows, grouse and woodcock cover other people didn’t know about, blueberry patches other people didn’t know about, yelling at Tom Izzo during MSU basketball games, leftover pie for breakfast, rum and diet coke, the sound of rain on the tin roof at the family cabin, flyfishing (any kind of fishing, really), his bird dogs, writing letters to the editor of The Alpena News and long workouts followed by longer baths. A former long-distance runner and cross-country skier, Bray possessed an incredible attention span for the things that interested him – one that was never corrupted by a smart phone or social media.

More than any of these things, though, he loved the family that survives him – his wife, Mary (Conkle) Bray, his son Derek Bray, his wife Alex Bray and their sons, Henry and Noah, and his daughter Courtney (Bray) McCrimmon and her children, Evangeline and Duncan. He showed his love in a myriad of ways – from his patented “Paul Bray” pat on the back to sending cherished handwritten notes to his grandchildren along with some “Grandpa Grumpy money.” More than anything else, though, he showed his love through storytelling. Whether it was vividly reminiscing about the early years of dating Mary (and the outfits she wore) or making up stories about his children battling Greek Gods, writing short stories featuring all four of his grandchildren or calling to share a recent adventure with his dog in the woods, his storytelling was legendary.

In addition to his immediate family, he is survived by his sister, Patricia Louise McCord; two cousins, Larry (Kathy) Angove of Traverse City, and Ron (Melissa) Angove of Atlanta, Mich.; a niece and a nephew. He was preceded in death by his mother, Frances Helen Bray and father, Theron Howard Bray; and a cousin Lynn Swanson.

Visitation will be held at McWilliams Funeral Home in Alpena from 3 – 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8. Visitation will continue from noon to 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9 at the funeral home with a Celebration of Life beginning at 1 p.m.

Memorials: Huron Pines (a local environmental organization) or Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library.