Carolyn Dunne Gray

June 19, 1939
September 24, 2023

Carolyn Dunne Gray passed away peacefully on September 24, 2023, after a three-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. Born in Newark, New Jersey, to George Dunne, Sr, and Elizabeth James, Carolyn attended Butler High School in northern New Jersey. In 1957, she became one of the first women admitted to Rutgers University’s College of Engineering. After pausing her education for a year to attend to her parents’ illnesses and support her young siblings, Carolyn enrolled as a scholarship student at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. Known as “Dunnie,” she served as president of student government while earning a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. She later earned a master’s degree from Nazareth College, in Rochester.

Carolyn’s successful career as a systems analyst at Eastman Kodak in the 1980s and 1990s and as an executive transition consultant at Goodrich & Sherwood in the 2000s was bookended by her work as a mathematics educator in Penn Yan and Rochester area high schools. In all phases of her life, she emerged as a champion for women in the field of mathematics.

Full of fun, Carolyn found time for many leisure pursuits, including cooking, swimming, sailing, watercolor painting, and singing. She sang with the Rochester Oratorio Society for more than three decades and aided that organization in several administrative capacities. Carolyn enjoyed good cuisine and wine with her two longstanding foodie groups, “The Winettes” and “The Breakfast Club.” She loved concertgoing at the Rochester Philharmonic and filmgoing at the Little Theater, and she treasured the time she could spend on the water, notably at Keuka Lake. Equally joyful was the time spent with her grandchildren, with whom she shared many adventures and laughs.

An outside-the-box thinker whose intellectual curiosity was broadened by her unique and endearing quirkiness, Carolyn will be missed by her many friends, as well as by her family.

Carolyn is survived by her elder son Timothy Gray and his wife Maria Barnett, who reside in New Jersey, and by their children, Alexander and Charlotte, college students in the Midwest. She is survived also by her younger son, Scott Gray, and his wife Cathy, of Pennsylvania. Other survivors include Carolyn’s sister Susan Dunne Lederhaas (Louis) of North Carolina, her brother George Dunne, Jr (Pam) of Vermont, her niece Irene Gammon of Washington State, and her nephew Matthew Gammon of Florida.

Private burial is planned in Keuka Park. A celebration of life will be announced shortly thereafter.
In lieu of flowers, please consider supporting the Rochester Oratorio Society with a gift (of any amount) in Carolyn Gray’s memory. Please visit https://rossings.org/support-ros/support-us/