About David W. Gray

pic of david w grayI was born and raised in the central Piedmont area of North Carolina. My Dad and Grandfather taught me how to hunt and fish and respect the nature God gave us to enjoy and take care of. I have always loved being outdoors. It is there I feel closest to God in His beautiful creation that couldn’t have happened by some chance.

I joined the Army in 1976 and retired early in 1988. I was stationed at the following installations: Fort Sill, Ok; Bamberg, Germany; Fort Wadsworth, NY; Fort Monmouth, NJ; Fort Sam Houston, TX; Camp Casey, (Tongduch'on, South Korea); Fort Lewis, WA; Fort Gordon, GA and returned to Fort Lewis where I retired with a medical disability.

I met my now deceased wife, Theresa (Terri) in 1980 at Fort Sam and we were married July 1, 1981. I have two children, Jennifer and Christopher. After retirement from the Army, I moved for short stays in Sonora and Sunnyvale, California. I then moved to Lompoc, CA for a new job working for Ford Aerospace (later became Loral Aerospace). I worked there for 2 years as a Field Engineer in the Data Area. That was the best civilian job I've ever had. After being laid-off, I went to work for Delco Electronics as a PC Technician. After 9 months I was offered a job by the US Postal Service for the position of Mail Processing Equipment Maintenance Mechanic. I accepted the position and about two years later I was promoted to Electronics Technician. I retired from the Postal Service on January 2, 2003 with a disability.

Not long after my full medical retirement my late wife, Terri, was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer. For nearly 3 years I stayed by her and gave her the best support I possibly could.

Just before Terri's death in April 2006, she gave me my first Digital SLR camera for my birthday. It has been one of my dreams to pursue a new hobby in wildlife, nature and outdoors sports photography. Since my hunting abilities became limited during that period, now with this camera I can now shoot thousands of wildlife and nature pictures. Each picture I take will serve as a dedication and memorial to my late wife. The central coast was my training ground where I honed my skills. Many of my photos may be viewed at VandenbergWildlife.com. Someday I would like to travel to military installations across the U.S. and document wildlife there. I hope to publish a book on wildlife conservation on military installations; a work that I don’t think has ever been done.

In December of 2006 a hunting friend invited me to a competition handgun shoot. He allowed me to shot his pistols and well I got hooked. Now I own 3 competition handguns. I have improved enough to place 2nd and 3rd in the events. Not bad considering I'm shooting against competitors that have been shooting for 20 plus years. It’s a real blast.

On April 21, 2009, I married Amy Christine on the beach at Pismo Beach, CA. We had a fun barefoot wedding with a few friends and family. Not long after our marriage we embarked on a yearlong RV trip across America. Ten months later we returned to Vandenberg AFB to prepare our house in Lompoc for renting and continued full time RV traveling for another 3.5 years.

Favorite Quotation:

"The past is history, the future is a mystery, but the present is a gift! Enjoy today."Terri L. Gray

Copyright © 2009-2016, All rights reserved, David W. Gray