Bruce Gray
Little boys are said to be made of snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, but Bruce Gray was made of dreams.
As a small boy, he made birthday wishes, not realizing the tremendous impact that turning dreams into reality could have on the people and things he touched in life. As a man, he was known as an “achiever with a vision,” a “people builder,” a man with a heart as big as the system he represented.
Bruce’s leadership — as a builder of visions, organizations and people — shined through every day at Francis Tuttle Technology Center. Under his leadership, and with the support of a visionary board, his school became one of the premier vocational schools in the nation. It is home to the first Advanced Technology Center in Oklahoma, a computer and business center with nearly 200 networked computer workstations, one of the first Business and Industry Service Centers in the state and one of 11 network satellite centers in the nation providing companies with electronic access to government contract opportunities.
Bruce’s love for building people and systems transcended the workplace. A friend said, “To know Bruce is to know a man who has helped build a whole community by his service to others. More important to Bruce than belonging to various civic organizations is his participation and commitment to action through them.”
He was also a recipient of the Francis Tuttle Career Excellence Award, presented in 1990 by “the man who was named after the school,” Dr. Francis Tuttle.
Whether Bruce was a natural-born leader or learned the lessons of commitment and leadership early in life, the credit went to his mother, Sarah Callahan. Widowed when Bruce was 14 years old, she raised Bruce and his sister, Judy, in a loving, supportive home. He also enjoyed building a loving family with his wife, Pat, and three beautiful daughters, Hilarie, Courtney and Staci.
Gray was inducted to the CareerTech Hall of Fame in 1995.
