Gray 'In Awe' As State Benefactor Award Recipient

08/07/2005

There are not many times when Marjorie Cox Gray is at a loss for words.

When the Bluewater Bay resident was chosen the 2005 Florida Benefactor Award recipient by the Council for Resource Development (CRD), Gray was "almost speechless." Almost.

"It was a such a great honor just to learn I had been nominated, but then to be selected for the award -- I was overwhelmed," said Gray, who was chosen with eight other CRD Benefactor awardees from throughout the southeastern U.S and honored in Nashville in May.

"I was in awe at the other Benefactor stories -- 'what am I doing here with all these outstanding people, companies and organizations?' -- I found myself wondering," said Gray.

OWC Foundation president Dale Rice Jr., who accompanied Gray to Nashville to accept the Benefactor Award, had the answer.

"Marjorie Gray can hold a candle with anybody when it comes to caring about her local college. This is a woman of courage who has beaten cancer and along the way fulfilled a personal passion of helping the college's nursing program get started with two scholarships, among her many other contributions to O-W."

Rice said it wasn't just the nursing scholarships Gray began when the college didn't have any, the health science computer lab she and her son Hugh Gray funded, the radiology technician scholarship she established before the college even had the new program off the drawing board, or the behind-the-scenes volunteer work she does with the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra at OWC that helped Marjorie Gray win the Benefactor award. He noted that the combination of all her numerous community and charity work along with Gray's spirit of reaching out to others and making a difference made her stand out as a "true benefactor".

With her trademark colorful broad-brim hats, Marjorie Gray, noted Rice "is a positive example of what this college is all about and what it means to the community. She's done more than give her money and time. She's shown others how to leverage their contributions like she has with corporate matching from the Exxon-Mobil Corporation. And, she's out there explaining to others how to complete estate plans and leave funds for good works -- not just for Uncle Sam."

"That," added Rice, "is why Marjorie Gray is our Benefactor Award winner."

If there is one other distinction that demonstrates the former nurse's passion about education and its match with education, it's that Gray became a member of the OWC Foundation Legacy Circle after including a bequest to the college in her will. "I have been blessed in my life and my bequest to the college is my way of helping others in return," said Gray.