On a chilly December morning, Esther Gray shifts her weight from one foot to the other; she pursed her lips and sighs deeply. Her breath clouds the frigid air.
“Sadness … ” Gray said, her voice trailing off, reflecting how she felt during her last University Lecture. “The lectures have just been such a huge part of my life.”
Over the last 15 years, Gray shaped the University Lecture Series, which brings prominent individuals in their fields of study to speak at Syracuse University. From late night errands to marketing the event, Gray oversaw every detail of the series.
After nearly four decades spent working at the university, she’s retiring earlier than she’d like.
Over the summer, SU offered a buyout to employees whose age and years of service combined was 65 or more to cut costs. Gray, who turns 70 in January, took the deal, forcing her to leave a semester earlier than she wanted.
I am not happy to be leaving in the middle of the year, I don’t think anybody is. ... I feel like my final act here is leaving something undone.Esther Gray
But Gray prefers to reflect on the things she has done.
Gray graduated from SU with a degree in anthropology and women’s studies after taking classes part-time for eight years and was named a Remembrance Scholar in 1999 when she was in her 50s.
She’s reeled in more than 100 prominent figures to speak in the lecture series. Neil deGrasse Tyson, David McCullough and Al Gore dot her track record, some of whom she also brought to the Syracuse City School District. Her favorite memories are those she shared with the lecturers.
Courtesy of Stephen Sartori
On April 13, 2010, the Nobel Prize Laureate and poet Seamus Heaney stood at the front of Hendricks Chapel as the crowd began to trickle in. Gray stood close by, gesturing toward the sign language interpreters explaining every detail of the upcoming speech.
“After you finish, I will take you, very quickly without stopping to the back foyer for the book signing. I will have a bottle of water for you …”
The Irishman inched closer to her, and with a mischievous smile slid her a small bottle of vodka.
“Esther, this bottle of water would be so much better with this put in it.”
She hid it in her hand, walked to her colleague and best friend Kelly Rodoski to explain the situation. Rodoski went to the bathroom of Hendricks to make the swap, hiding the empty bottle at the bottom of the trashcan.
“When I took it out to him during the book signing I said, ‘Here’s your special water,’ and he just looked up at me with that great big grin,” Gray said. “He was so funny, he was such a sweetheart.”
Courtesy of Stephen Sartori
Her face lights up when she talks about her “honored guests.” From driving them to the airport at 4:30 a.m. or bringing them cold medicine at midnight, she prided herself on making everyone feel at home.
Gray and the rest of the University Lectures team become invested in the speakers far before they arrive on campus.
The booking process begins in the fall of the year before the lecturer comes to speak. She sits down with her team of about a dozen people and they try to gauge what speakers to bring based on affordability, diversity and prominence in their respective fields.
They want to bring individuals who are well respected in different lines of work, but Gray is more interested in their storytelling abilities. She called the University Lectures “a performance” and that over the years, she’s seen biologists bring audience members to tears and writers who “don’t have a clue.”
Courtesy of Stephen Sartori
No matter the speaker, Gray wants to treat them the same way. She is the first person they meet at the airport either on the night before they speak or early in the morning. She tells them to look for the “short, chubby grandma” upon arrival. It gives her a chance to know them, and to anticipate anything they might need.
She gets them settled, and at about 1 p.m. the typical day kicks off with media interviews. She shuttles them back and forth across campus, until they head to dinner at 5 p.m. and the lecture at 7:30 p.m.
During the lecture, Gray sits in the wings, carefully listening and watching to make sure everything goes smoothly. After the speech, the speaker might do a book signing or just hang around to talk to students.
When it’s time to leave the Hill, Gray drives them back to the airport — she wants her face to be the last one they see before leaving. She gives every guest a hug before they depart.
I never expect any of these people to remember me or the university, but they do; they remember the students, they remember that they came here and that they had a good time, and that they were treated so well.Esther Gray
She’s stayed close with many of the speakers over the years, exchanging emails and letters with lecturers like Billy Collins, Eric Schlosser and David Henry Hwang. A member of FOE, or “Friends of Esther,” made her a memory box that she keeps these correspondences in. Gray said she will always cherish the relationships she built with the people she worked with, the speakers and the students.
Just inside the Genesee Grande Hotel, a group of 50 people gathered to celebrate her retirement. Yellow and purple balloons float near their heads, and gentle murmurs can be heard as she steps forward. At first, in a quiet voice, Esther Gray begins to address the crowd, giving her last lecture.
“I never dreamed that my life would end up the way it has, to have the opportunity to work for the university for 40 years with the greatest bunch of people that I could ever imagine working with,” she said, her voice shaking with emotion. “And to be leaving now surrounded by the sea of friends that I have, I must’ve done something right.”
Published on December 10, 2015 at 12:43 am
Contact Jacob: jagedets@syr.edu
