Looking Back
Kenneth and Dorothy Gray K
enneth Gray was born in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England, on July 7, 1912. His father, John, was a master tailor and operated his business from a shop in front of their home. When John vanished in 1922, Kenneth’s mother, Mary, was left in dire circumstances and poor health. Kenneth and his brother, Thomas, were reluctantly handed over to the care of Dr. Barnardo’s Orphanage in London. When offered passage to Australia, they eagerly accepted, believing that they could live with their older brother Leslie, who had left home years before. They landed at Sydney instead, far from Leslie and South Australia. LIVING WITH SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS
Thomas and Kenneth were placed with the Tempest family, Seventh-day Adventists living in Cooranbong, New South Wales (NSW). Thomas lived with them for two years before joining Leslie in South Australia. Kenneth stayed on and attended high school at Australasian Missionary College (AMC). He was baptized in 1926. While obtaining his teaching degree, Kenneth worked in the blacksmithing and engineering department of the Sanitarium Health Food Company (SHF) on the AMC campus. When he graduated in 1933, he had the choice between teaching or an engineering career with the SHF, which would have been more lucrative. He chose education, accepting an appointment at the AMC Elementary School. 24
May 2021 AdventistWorld.org
Missionaries to the South Pacific*
Kenneth began teaching grades 3 and 4. The following year he taught grades 5 and 6. During this time he formed a close friendship with fellow teacher Dorothy Smith. Their romance blossomed, and on New Year’s Eve 1937 they were married in Newcastle, NSW. OVERSEAS MISSION SERVICE
When Kenneth was teaching at the AMC Elementary School in 1935, he met William Lock, a missionary in Papua New Guinea, who was on furlough and looking for candidates to join him. Lock spoke glowingly of the Mirigeda (meaning “sand mat”) Training School he was establishing. Kenneth’s fascination was piqued. Perhaps one day he could be a missionary like Lock! His dream of mission service came true when he and Dorothy were appointed to Mirigeda just before their marriage. Their preembarkation leave and honeymoon included a rushed trip to Adelaide to bid farewell to Kenneth’s mother and siblings, and a crash course in tropical medicine at the Sydney Sanitarium and Hospital. They boarded the ship Macdhui, bound for Papua, on February 4, 1937. The Papua Mission, with headquarters at Mirigeda, was in its infancy. Almost 30 years had passed since it was first established, and there were only 144 baptized members. Lock had purchased some derelict homes abandoned by a mining company close by at Bootless Bay and transported them piece by piece to Mirigeda in order to reconstruct them. Photo: The Gray Family
