What makes you who you are?
My family really had a lot to do with it. I had a brother, but he died when I was fairly young. My parents were from Canada. They were wholesome, hard-working people; very loving and considerate.

My mother would host dinner parties with friends. Her father was a Baptist minister, and had people visiting their home-parishioners, guests and so on. I think coming up in that kind of environment, she developed an interest in education and a love for family. My father worked on the railroads for 44 years. He was a great guy. Everybody loved Morgan J. Gray. He sang in the church choir, made friends and traveled all his life. He was very wise about places, people and things.

My mother and father never pressed me for what they thought I ought to be. Yet they were always encouraging. My mother would say, "Chester, be yourself, then you'll be somebody." And she was strong on education and spirituality. I'm convinced my mother was a genius--she was a master budgeter. We did not have lots of money. But as I look back now, I realize they did pretty well. We never missed a meal, and I always got gifts on the holidays. They never owned an automobile, nor their own home until I bought an apartment for them on East Boulevard in Cleveland.

I was raised in an Italian community by Cedar and Frank Avenue, which was a smaller Little Italy. I spoke Italian; everybody did. We used to have a lot of fun. I was the kind of kid who would put a scooter together out of different parts, and was always tinkering. Putting things together, taking them apart. I used to be good at playing marbles, tops, baseball, and I ice skated in The Plain Dealer Silver Skate races on the Wade Park pond in front of where I now live.

You've had an amazing career. How did you start it?
In junior high school I got a job as a bus boy at the Wade Park Manor hotel, which is where I now live as it is part of the Judson Manor Retirement Community.

After high school, I got involved at the Cedar branch of the YMCA. I met a man by the name of Martin Kelly. He was a natural leader. He and I and about six other fellows organized the vocational steering committee. We were concerned about upgrading vocational education in Cleveland schools. We knew there were kids throughout the city who might not make it to college, nor would they be prepared for a job. We marched to the Board of Education with our case. We brought in speakers and held meetings for the students. Those kids would graduate from East Technical High School and West Tech, and would go right into the plants. We were excited; we were making a difference.

Another project I was involved with through the YMCA was measuring vacant lots throughout the city as part of a National Youth Administration project. It was during the Depression, and the NYA was one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's programs. Parks were made out of the lots. Then I was hired as the NYA assistant supervisor at the urging of Russell W. Jelliffe, of Karamu House fame.

When I graduated from John Carroll University in 1935, I was promoted to community affairs on a statewide basis and moved to Columbus. My job was to travel the state to develop projects for unemployed, out-of-school youth with local government and state agencies.

This was the beginning of my thirst for public service.

If you had a personal philosophy that you've lived by, what would it be?
I believe there is good and potential in everyone. In applying the Golden Rule as an administrator, I wanted the staff to sense and understand that they were an important part in accomplishing our mission. I know-then as now-that whatever philosophy may have had an impact on my life, the sole purpose of my life has been devoted to making a difference in the status quo when the status quo had a negative impact on individual growth and development.

You've been profiled in The Plain Dealer, Northern Ohio Live and Shaker Magazine for your participation in tai chi. How did you get involved with that?
About five years ago, I served as a trustee at the Fairhill Center for Aging. The program director there suggested I try it. Tai chi has been around for 5,000 years, but only now is becoming more popular in the western world. Chi is energy, and it surrounds you all the time. Tai chi has been described as meditation in motion. For aging people, it really means concentration and movement to feel the energy, or chi, flowing through the channels of their body. The movements are so beautiful and peaceful, and they aide balance. I've demonstrated tai chi here; about 40 people came. Some in wheelchairs, some with canes. I told them we'd choreograph it so those in wheelchairs could do the upper body motions, and those with canes could just sit down and exercise.

You've had a very active, positive retirement, despite the death of your wife.
I was married 40 years. We really had fun. My wife and son and I traveled extensively; we went to the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Spain, north Africa. My wife was quite a woman. She was president of a chain of drug stores, as well as a magnificent companion.

She died two years ago from Alzheimer's disease, which she'd had for about four years. I never missed a beat of my lifestyle. But I also never missed a moment to be with her. I've become a great believer in human spirituality. I believe there is a spiritual link between people. I know that even though she didn't know where she was, I'd hold her hand, and she knew I was there. Once, when she hadn't said a word in months, she pursed her lips and said, "Chester."

How would you suggest someone can "age successfully"?
Barring a serious ailment, I think you should get active in things inside and outside the home. Stay involved with people, places, and things. In so doing, you're not aware of aging. Secondly, it depends on your attitude towards yourself. You have to do the things you enjoy-whether it's physical activity, politics, human relations, games, music, art, etc. You're not old because of your age.

As you age, you also need to pamper yourself. Buy yourself a massage, get a pedicure, take a bubble bath. Do yoga, explore your spirituality, try tai chi-things of that nature. Or if your sight is bad, then get books on tape.

Another vital piece is companionship. Be with friends. Get dressed up and go somewhere. Your environment has a lot to do with it. I love University Circle because it has everything: the art museum, a park, Severance Hall.

I am now becoming a rather proficient cook. I get out on the golf course whenever I can. Golf is like a disease, really. I like photography, too. I keep up with some trends, ones I find helpful. I have an "eye-phone." It has my address book in it. I can bring that on the screen, and I just press whoever's phone number or e-mail address I need. And that's how I call or send an e-mail to someone. I can surf the Internet also.

You have to keep doing things that give you a sense of being useful. I think that's one of the things that is a big negative on the part of many aging people; when people age they often feel useless. As long as you are participatory in the things that you enjoy, and feel that you can make a difference, then you are not old or put out to pasture. And that keeps you going.

Do you think of yourself as old?
No. I'm 87 years old, and I thoroughly enjoy my senior status. I quit smoking in 1961. I'm on the board of trustees of the Fairhill Center for Aging. My experiences at Fairhill make me really comfortable with older people here at the Manor. I volunteer at some things, and I am not lonesome. Loneliness can cause self-pity, and sometimes serious unhappiness.

The Good Lord has given us a lease on this planet, the duration of which is unknown. You've got to do something with that lease to make things better for yourself and others. That's the basis of Jesuit education. They don't care who you are, what you are, how great you are-give something back. I frequently reflect on what Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, said to his small group of priests following their education. It is this, with my apologies to him for not getting it exactly as he said it: "Go forth into the world, do what needs to be done, and do it well."

Many of Chester Gray's reports, research documents, speeches made before the legislature on fair employment practices, and letters of commendation are at the Western Reserve Historical Society. For more information, call the Society at 216.721.5722 .