In this ongoing series, we feature a piece from our Museum Director, Billie DeLancey, originally published in The Johnstown Breeze on October 23, 2025. Enjoy this look back, and keep an eye on the paper for the newest stories shaping our community.
The Gray family’s roots in Johnstown date back to 1885 when James Albert Gray, his wife Ellen, and their six children moved to the Hillsboro district near what would become Milliken. The family settled on a quarter-section of land and lived in a dug-out until it was possible to build a house. In 1901, James was killed in a horse run-away while on his way to the Shamrock Coal Mine near Firestone. He was the first man to be buried in the Elwell Cemetery.
Dec 12, 1911 – Mar 24,-2004
His son Sidney and wife Lillian welcomed their first child, James S. (Jim) Gray in 1911, born on the family homestead. Jim grew up there and learned farming and dairy operations. He graduated from Johnstown High School and started college at the University of Colorado before transferring to the State Normal School, now the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley. There, he met Margaret Paxton. They married and had a son, Richard Paul Gray, born in 1938. The marriage didn’t last long, and Richard stayed with his mother.
Jim continued with his schooling and earned a bachelor’s degree in education. He taught math and science at his old high school in Johnstown for a time and coached football – a sport he had excelled in during high school and college.
In the 1930s, Jim worked in road construction with his brother Charles in the La Hunta area and elsewhere. While working in central Wyoming, Jim lost a finger on his left hand in an accident. The wound was not healing well, and he transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver. During his prolonged recovery, he fell in love with Edna Beauregard, his nurse, and they married on February 17, 1942. They had a son, William, followed by three more sons – James A. (Mack), Joel, and Daniel.
At the start of WWII, Jim enlisted in the United States Army Air Corp. He earned his wings and was assigned to fighter plane transport in Europe and Northern Africa. Later, he was stationed in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he served until the war’s end as an escort pilot flying a P38 fighter aircraft. He flew missions almost daily, often logging two missions a day. One mission took him to the North Pole. Following V-E Day, he was assigned to the Ephrata, Washington airbase where he completed his tour of duty as base commander. He mustered out as Captain James S. Gray, United States Army Air Corps, a title he cherished throughout his life.
During his Tour in Iceland, he managed to save enough money to buy a quarter-section of land near the Gray family farm he grew up on, and he farmed them both. After his military service Jim built houses with his brother Charles, distributed Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), and in 1947, he opened Gray’s Farm & Home store at 22 S. Parish Avenue.
In 1959 at age 48, Jim liquidated the LPG business and began brokering malting barley with a company in Longmont. In 1968, he opened his own brokage firm – Alpine Grain Co. in Ralston, Wyoming. He sold the business to Anheuser Busch in 1980, and he and his son Mack began a new malting company in Bozeman, Montana. Jim retired in 1996 and he and Edna returned to Johnstown; Edna died on December 26, 1998. Jim developed a serious infection that required a prolonged hospital stay. He passed away on March 24, 2004 at 92 years old. He was laid to rest at the Johnstown cemetery in the Gray family plot.
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Sources: Excerpted in part from A Tribute To Johnstown, Rebecca S. Healy, 1977; Newspaper articles from The Johnstown Breeze, The Greeley Tribune; The Hillsboro District, Jim Linden, 2024.