Stella C. Gray, professor emerita of English at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, died on May 31 at an assisted living community in Newcastle, Maine. She was 96 years old.
Dr. Gray was a native of St. Albans, Maine and grew up in Boothbay Harbor, where her father served as superintendent of the public school system. After finishing second in her high school class, she began her higher education at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York, but then transferred to her parents alma mater, Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
After graduating from Bates in 1941, Professor Gray taught at the high school level and then at the University of Maine at Farmington. During this period she obtained a master’s degree in English at Middlebury College in Vermont. In 1949, Gray received a scholarship to pursue her Ph.D. in English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
After completing her doctorate, Professor Gray began teaching at the Kenosha campus of the University of Wisconsin. In 1968, the campus became the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Dr. Gray taught English composition, speech, and literature and was chair of the Humanities Division.
Upon her retirement the university established the Stella C. Gray Teaching Excellence Award in her honor.