Donald Charles Gray was the son of Ernest Gray and Martha (White, Beede, Gray, Calcagni) Barcomb. He was the fifth of seven children, including half-siblings Roberta, Frances, Shirley and Robert Beede, and Margaret Calcagni; and a sister, Dorothy (Gray) Goodwin.
Don was a lifelong Vermonter, growing up in Hardwick and East Calais. He attended Lyndon Institute, graduating in 1951. It was at L.I. that he met Harriet Doane (L.I. Class of 1950). They married on February 15, 1953. After Don graduated from L.I., he attended the Vermont School of Agriculture with the anticipation of becoming a dairy farmer. While working on a farm in Charlotte and after Don and Harriet’s first son, Michael, was born in 1954, Don was drafted into the U.S. Army. Their second son, John, was born in 1955 while Don was in basic training. This new family then moved to Fort Carson in Colorado, where Don was stationed. With a third child on the way, Don requested and was granted early leave from the army. Peter was born in 1957, soon after the family’s return to Vermont. Don was able to benefit from the G.I. Bill and attended the University of Vermont, earning a mechanical engineering degree in 1960. That same year Don began work at the Union Carbide/Eveready plant in St. Albans. In 1975 he transferred to the Union Carbide plant in Bennington. Don took early retirement in 1989.
With retirement, life took on a spirit of adventure as Don and Harriet traveled about the country in an RV. They began spending the winter in Mesa, Ariz., at Valle Del Oro, a snowbird RV park. It was here that Don took up jewelry making and other crafts and led hikes in the Superstition Mountains. Don and Harriet returned to Vermont each spring, spending summer and early autumn at the family camp on Fairfield Pond. When travel was no longer feasible, Don and Harriet settled at Thayer House in the north end of Burlington. Don spent his last years at the Craftsbury Community Care Center, returning to the area he grew up in.
Don loved being in the outdoors and especially enjoyed fishing, hunting, hiking and camping. He was an avid gardener and beekeeper. Dogs and cats were always a part of the family.
Don’s life ended on Sunday, May 3, 2026, at Copley Hospital in Morrisville, Vt., just two days shy of his 93rd birthday on May 5.
Don was a beloved son, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was predeceased by his wife of 63 years, Harriet Doane Gray; daughter-in-law Phyllis Nelson Gray; and grandchild Andrew Gray. Don is survived by his sister, Dorothy (Gray) Goodwin; his three sons and their families, Michael Gray and Ellie Hayes of Woodbury, Vt., John Gray and Samantha Ridge of Brooklyn, and Peter Gray and Pam Blake of Essex, Vt.; his grandchildren Kristen Jafflin and Ethan Jacobs; and his three great-grandchildren, Lucas and Lily Jafflin and Martin Jacobs Gray.
A celebration of life will be held on Sunday, July 12, 2026, 2 p.m., in the Garden Room at Thayer House, 1197 North Ave., Burlington.