John (Doc) N. Bray

John (Doc) Norman Bray of Hermon, New York, passed away in his sleep on April 4, 2026. Born in Rahway, New Jersey on November 8, 1944 to Norman and Amy Sias Bray, John graduated from Rahway High School in 1962. While a self-proclaimed uncertain student in secondary school, he knew he wanted to go to college. He proceeded to earn his undergraduate degree in biology from Roberts Wesleyan College in 1966, where he was on both the soccer and track and field teams, participating in both shot put and discus. While at Roberts, John was called to follow Jesus Christ and his faith became the guiding compass in his life. He was a firm believer in Micah 6:8, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” After graduating from Roberts, John then went to Syracuse University to earn his Masters in microbiology. At Syracuse, he discovered he enjoyed teaching more than research, and took a job that he would stay in for over 30 years – high school science and biology teacher at Hermon Dekalb Central School. When taking the position at Hermon Dekalb, John also got his masters in Biology Education from Potsdam State. He would go on to earn his doctoral degree in the AEGIS program at Columbia University. As his wife Lynetta told him, “As long as you are learning, you are happy.”

At Hermon Dekalb, John received many awards for his teaching efforts, including: Clarkson University Teacher of the Year, Tandy Corporation Technological Scholar Award, USAToday Second Team All-American Teacher, WWNY-TV Teacher of the Week, and New York State Teacher of the Year Finalist. One his favorite experiences was receiving the Fulbright Memorial Fellowship to visit and share ideas on education in Japan. However, even after all those affirmations, he would still say “The greatest honors I received were the love and respect of my students” and would more readily talk of accolades his students had received than of his own. He felt strongly that not believing in yourself could become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and he wanted to spend his life helping people become the people they could become.

He was always active and believed in the value of sports and activity for both health and personal growth. At Hermon Dekalb, John would serve over time as coach or assistant coach of the boys and girls soccer teams, rifle team (earning the NRA’s Distinguished Expert Medal on his way to becoming a certified coach), and ultimately the wrestling team as well, proud of coaching thirty-one sectional champions and eight state place winners and producing the only small school at the time to ever win the Section X title, which they did three times in a row. John loved the outdoors, including sailing, picking blueberries, and especially hiking, and could be seen walking daily on the local roads wherever he was getting his morning exercise.

While teaching, John began a hobby he called his therapy but he excelled in as well – woodworking, from carving songbirds, owls, raptors, decoys and bears which turned to stone carving, welding sculptures, and turning bowls. He first entered a carving to the National Decoy Contest in the 1970s, and would go on to progress through the novice and intermediate levels to advanced and then the master classes, submitting regularly to competitions in both Maine and New Brunswick, Canada as well as at the Ward World Championships in Maryland, receiving many awards for his carvings. John remained a curious student and helpful teacher, both taking classes and actively seeking feedback and criticism to help him improve, while also becoming a board member for the New Brunswick Carving Association where he and fellow carvers would run classes for novices each year.

John was married to his wife, Lynetta Bray, in 1967, who survives him. John is also survived by his sons Daniel, and his wife Marisol, and Nathaniel, and his wife Melinda, as well as his three grandchildren and his sibling Marilyn. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Matthew 25: Ministries (https://m25m.org/), or the charity of your choice.