After 40 years, Terrance Gray is retiring from his role as the longest-serving Bath Housing Authority Commissioner.
Bath Housing Authority Commissioners expressed gratitude to Gray at his last board meeting in January. Executive Director Debora Keller told him: “You created an organization that was very easy to walk into, and every easy to take to the next level. Your legacy will always live on here.”
Terrance Gray.
Keller highlighted his work on building a culture of resident services, financial stability and being early adopters of innovative ideas, according to a news release from the city.
Gray joined the board in 1982 and was instrumental in setting up the affiliated Bath Housing Development Corporation in 1984. Since then, Bath Housing Authority was able to transition its public housing portfolio to the Development Corporation.
“Because of Terry and the board of Commissioners, the services program was able to go well beyond what we’d planned,” Joanne Marco, who oversaw the creation of Bath Housing Authority’s Resident Service Program from 1994 to 2007, and then served as executive director for seven years, said.
Marco noted that Gray helped nurtured strong relationships with St. Joseph’s College, Bath Regional Career and Technical Center and Bath Iron Works.
“If it weren’t for your expertise in the building trades, and your work with the voc school, none of that would have happened in the way it did. Your support of the Bath community, for 40 years, every step of the way, has been so important,” Macro told Gray.
Gray, whose professional background was in construction, spoke about his history with the organization, and said “it was a lucky stroke” that his interests and involvement in things like the vocational school, Bath Rotary, and Bath Housing intersected.
“I was in a nice situation where I could combine all three, and be at the center of getting those things going,” Gray said.
He noted that programs like Comfortably Home, which performs modifications allowing older people to stay in their home and the Development Corporation were on the leading edge.
“I’ve always been really proud of that,” Gray said. “And I believe we were one of the very first to have a separate development group. I think we were the first and perhaps the only housing authority to act as a developer for a major housing development, namely Seacliff. I was very proud that we were able to do that; what would have been profit for a private developer we were able to put directly toward beneficial housing for people.”
Gray expressed the hope that Bath Housing would continue to be financially strong, and be able to take advantage of opportunities when they arise.
“Where a project might not be economically feasible for a private individual or developers, we can go there when we’re stable; we can work on grants and other funding to help the project and develop more housing for more people, which is, after all, our mission,” Gray said.
“Your contributions to the housing authority are innumerable, and I can’t thank you enough,” Board Chairperson Katie Powers told Gray. “You now are the guardian of the institutional history of Bath Housing.”
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