Norma Jeanne Seay Gray was born in Huntington in 1929 and was one of the six children of Letcher and Ada Cook Seay. She graduated from Huntington East High School and Marshall University. She married Howard Gray in 1948 and had a child, Barbara.
Gray was the first director of Region III Child Development Services, which was an early childhood center created to demonstrate programs for preschool children prior to the implementation of kindergartens in the public school system. She worked to provide quality, developmentally appropriate learning environments for children. The child development service eventually was renamed River Valley Development Services in 1990, which continues to serve thousands of families each year.
Gray received multiple national awards including the Lewis Hine Award presented by the National Child Labor Committee; the President's Award presented by the Southern Early Childhood Association; the West Virginia Advocate for Young Children Award presented by the West Virginia Network for Young Children; and the Distinguished West Virginian Award presented by former Gov. Cecil Underwood.
