Close friends of James ‘Jim’ Miller Gray have paid tribute to the former Dundee English teacher and Tayside Opera legend, who died aged 81.
Jim was born on November 8 1943 at the Marrbank nursing home on Paradise Road, Dundee.
He was the second of two children to James Miller Gray Sr and Jean ‘Jane’ Westwaters Bate.
His late sister Kathleen was eight years his senior, but the early death of their father strengthened the siblings’ bond.
Jim adored and cared for his sister throughout adulthood as she battled MS, with the pair taking many European holidays together.
He devotedly looked after Kathleen until her death in 2007.
Following his schooling at Downfield Primary School and Morgan Academy, Jim went on to study English and History at Aberdeen University.
It was there that he fell in love with the works of Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, often joking: “I choose to live in the past – it’s cheaper!”
Gentle giant Jim made an impression on his pupils
After serving in the Royal Navy as an education officer on the HMS Puma in the 1960s, Jim went on to instil that love of literature in many school pupils at Dundee’s Lawside Academy and Harris Academy.
Known as a man with “a waspish wit and a soft heart”, his booming voice and his dapper dress sense made Jim a standout character in the classroom.
Always sporting a double-breasted blazer, a cap and a signet ring, the 6ft 3in “gentle giant” could cut an imposing figure.
But his jovial manner, infectious enthusiasm for his subject and lack of regard for the constraints of curricula made him a favourite among even his least academically inclined pupils.
Each day he entered his classroom “with a flourish”, and his tendency to burst into song at any moment betrayed the other great love of his life – music.
Two-time president of Tayside Opera
Jim was a major player at Tayside Opera for 40 years, where he sang tenor, took on several principal roles, and undertook the role of president twice.
As a young man, he earned the nickname “Baby Blue”, since he favoured a powder blue suit on stage.
And one of Jim’s great moments of pride was when he performed as Malcolm in Macbeth for the Queen Mother at Glamis Castle, brought about by his friendship with the late Sir James Cayzer.
Music – particularly opera – was a huge part of Jim’s life; so much so that he was listening to opera music when he died on Wednesday November 27 2024 at the Brookfield care home in Carnoustie.
Jim the kilted hitchhiker: Enemy of pigeons
Indeed, Jim was “an incredibly sentimental” soul, often holding on to family heirlooms and memorabilia, and even displaying every Christmas card he’d received since the 1950s every year.
But that didn’t stop him from commanding a room, and certainly no one was spared the sharp edge of his wit.
His Tayside Opera speeches were highly anticipated, and those close to him attest that he could hold any crowd in the palm of his hand.
Indeed as a young man, he blagged his way across Europe by wearing a kilt to hitchhike, reasoning the unusual garb would help him get picked up. It did.
Mind you, Jim wasn’t always so practical.
Friends recall the occasion on which a pigeon managed to get into his house through the chimney.
Perplexed, he simply left it there and went to work, only to return to what he called a “turquoise mess” of stains.
His neighbour and dear friend Fiona Brownlee stepped in to help both times, capturing the pigeon with a bath sheet.
Close friends’ fond memories of dear Jim
She was one of Jim’s close-knit circle of friends, which also included fellow former teacher Keith Panton and Tayside Opera member James Morris.
Keith has fond memories of going to the old Parrot Cafe on Perth Road with Jim every day after school, where Jim – a true creature of habit – would duly hold court.
Meanwhile James recalls Jim’s note-perfect renditions of Gilbert and Sullivan songs, sung cheerfully in the car and the care home in his latter years.
They say that even as dementia took hold of Jim from 2019, he retained his humour, remarking of his single bed: “Imagine! Me – in a bed like that!”
Indeed, Jim’s playful gravitas seeped into every corner of his life: his style, his teaching, and even his small vanities – such as dying his hair jet black well into middle age.
Now as his friends prepare to lay Jim to rest on December 16, they recall the teasing line with which they’d greet him: “The raven has landed.”
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