LITTLE ROCK — For Daniel Gray of Jacksonville, community service is a family tradition.
Gray is a licensed Realtor with Bart Gray Realty Co. in Jacksonville, his family’s business.
Daniel Gray started helping out in the company when he was 12 years old and is now general manager.
“I like to kid around that I was bred for this job,” he said.
Gray’s grandfather Bart Gray Sr. started the company in 1948. His grandfather’s motto for the company - “There are no strangers here. Just friends we have not met” - is still in use today.
The company handles property management and residential sales, Gray said.
“A landlord has opportunities to help people through crises,” he said, “such as fires and to help people when they’re in need the most - to be able to provide them with shelter.Those are the greatest rewards.We’ve been blessed and try to help people.”
Gray met his wife, Amy, when she worked at Bart Gray Realty. The couple married in 1997.
“She’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” Gray said.
The Grays’ sons - Ethan, 7, and Seth, 4 - play baseball, and their father coaches.
Gray also takes an active role in improving education in Jacksonville. He got involved with the Jacksonville World Class Education Organization in 2007. He said the group’s original goals were to get Jacksonville its own school district and to improve the schools immediately by working with teachers and students to do “anything we could to help them," Gray said.
Gray said an independent district for Jacksonville would mean local control, as well as a smaller district with more focus on the schools in Jacksonville.
“Teachers would have better support, better resources and a greater opportunity for student improvement,” he said.
Gray’s family also has a history of being involved with Little Rock Air Force Base, and he is a member of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council.
“It is a real honor to be involved with the Community Council. It’s a good way to honor the people who serve in the Air Force and an opportunity to give back any way I can and express gratitude to them for their service,” he said.
One thing you want to accomplish in life, but haven’t yet: Attend the first Jacksonville/North
Pulaski Area School District School Board meeting.
Biggest fear: The Cubs won’t win the World Series in my lifetime.
Special, Pages 151 on 02/07/2010