C. Robert Wray

Charles Robert Wray, 78, of Mashpee and North Falmouth died August 30 at his Mashpee residence after a long illness.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mr. Wray was educated at Brooklyn Technical High School. He attended the University of Notre Dame, where he played basketball, and where he received his bachelor’s degree in history in 1952. The following year he was awarded a fellowship for graduate study and coached freshman basketball.
Serving in the Navy from 1953 to 1958, he was discharged with the rank of lieutenant in the US Naval Reserves after having served aboard the USS O’Brien in the Pacific Fleet and as an instructor at Officers Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.
He completed his master’s degree in modern European history the same year he was discharged from the service.
Mr. Wray devoted the next few decades of his life to working with and guiding young people, first at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut, where he spent seven years as assistant headmaster. That was followed by seven years as headmaster of Villa Duschene, Sacred Heart, a Catholic high school in St. Louis, Missouri. His last school was Stoneleigh-Burnham School for girls in Greenfield, where he was headmaster for 18 years.
In retirement he authored a book, St. Thomas More at the Millennium, published in 2001.
A Knight of Malta, he was a parishioner of St. Elizabeth Seton Church in North Falmouth and at St. Williams in Naples, Florida, where he was a former resident.
During his 10 years living in Naples, he taught Elizabethan and Tudor history for three years in the continuing education department at Ave Maria University of Naples.
He was the past president of Athletic Directors of Western Connecticut, and president of Independent Schools of St. Louis. Active in the recently formed Notre Dame Club of Naples, he was president of the Class of 1952 during its 50th anniversary. He also was a member of the Pocasset Golf Club.
He leaves his wife of 53 years, Paula Roche Wray; his daughters, Kathanne Wray Fowler of West Hartford, Connecticut, and Maura Wray Leddy of Raynham; and his grandchildren, Chesleigh and Julia Fowler and Patrick and Tierney Leddy.
He was predeceased by his son, Chris Wray, in 1997, and his daughter, Sheila Marie, in 1966.
Visiting hours are Tuesday from 4 to 8 PM in Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 548 Route 28A, West Falmouth.
A funeral Mass will be said Wednesday at 11 AM in St. Elizabeth Seton Church, Quaker Road, North Falmouth.
Interment will follow in North Falmouth Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod, 765 Attucks Lane, Hyannis, MA 02601.