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July 24, 2007
In Memory of Harmon Wray
The Tennessean
Wednesday, 07/25/07
Prisoner advocate Harmon Wray, 60, dies
By John Egerton
For The Tennessean
Harmon L. Wray was about to graduate from Southwestern College in Memphis in April 1968 when, a short distance across town, an assassin's bullet took the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the lightning rod of the Civil Rights Movement.
Countless people around the world have been moved to lives of service
by the martyrdom of Dr. King. Harmon Wray was one of them.
When Mr. Wray died of a massive brain hemorrhage in Nashville's St. Thomas Hospital Tuesday, he was in his 40th year of selfless commitment to a particular class of American outcasts: the more than 3 million men and women in the nation's prison population.
"He left campus to march with the sanitation workers in Memphis," recalled Mr. Wray's mother, Celeste Wray, "and he was in the audience when Dr. King made his last speech, the night before he was killed. No mother could want a better son than Harmon. He gave his life for others. I was intensely proud of him."
Mr. Wray was born in Memphis on Nov. 10, 1946, the only child of Celeste Hardy and her husband, Harmon Lee Wray. He graduated with honors from Southwestern (now Rhodes College) in 1968 and then earned a master's degree in religion from Duke University in 1970.
During that time, he entered the process of ordination into the ministry of the United Methodist Church.
Though he pursued a doctorate in ethics at Vanderbilt Divinity School in the 1970s, Mr. Wray stopped short of completing his dissertation - a study of religious radicals in the 20th-century South - and chose to be an activist rather than a scholar.
"I got what I came for," he told friends after he quit. "I got the experience, the knowledge, the personal associations. The only thing I left behind was the degree itself, and it meant nothing to me - and even less to the people I wanted to serve."
It was during those years that Mr. Wray began working with two Nashville-based organizations, the Southern Prison Ministry and Tennesseans Against the Death Penalty, both of which had religious motivations but no church affiliation. He was employed from time to time at the state and national levels of the United Methodist Church to work with task forces on various social issues.
"Somewhere along in there," recalled Don Beisswenger, now retired from the Vanderbilt Divinity School faculty, "Harmon decided not to seek ordination. It was an act of personal integrity for him, based on his understanding of the radical gospel of Jesus."
In the 1990s, while teaching part-time as an adjunct professor at the divinity school, Mr. Wray developed a course entitled "Theology and Politics of Criminal Justice." Over time, he inspired others to explore the subject with him - members of the divinity school faculty, professors from elsewhere in Nashville, people from beyond the campuses.
Mr. Wray's inspiration was to teach classes at Riverbend Prison in Nashville, the main correctional facility in Tennessee, with equal numbers of divinity school students and inmates taking part. He first got clearances to do that in 2003. In every academic term since then, he and some of his colleagues have taught there.
"Harmon gave much of lasting value to this institution and its population, and he will be sadly missed," said Riverbend warden Ricky Bell.
Tennessee Corrections Commissioner George Little said Mr. Wray "touched many lives at Riverbend, staff and prisoners alike. I greatly respected and valued his unique commitment, his passion and compassion. He was a bridge between the inside and the outside, and what he started will not die with him."
Three of Mr. Wray's colleagues - social worker Judy Parks, Lipscomb University historian Richard Goode, and Janet Wolf, a United Methodist minister who also teaches at American Baptist College in Nashville - met late Tuesday at Riverbend with more than a dozen inmates to give them the news of Mr. Wray's death.
These were some of the prisoners' reactions: "He donated a piece of himself to us, and he will be with us always . . . More than a teacher, advocate, friend, he was family, and this is like a death in the family . . . He told us, 'You are my church.'"
A memorial service for Mr. Wray, who donated his organs for transplant, will be Saturday at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary of Belmont United Methodist Church in Nashville, with former Tennessee Bishop Kenneth Carder and several Nashville UMC ministers presiding.
There will be visitation for family and friends tomorrow evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at Edgehill UMC at 15th and Edgehill Avenues.
The family requests that contributions be sent to Edgehill UMC, Box 128258, Nashville 37212, designated to a fund for the continuation of Mr. Wray's work.
Mr. Wray was married for a few years in the early 1970s, but the love of his life was Judy Parks, a career social worker (now retired). Janet Wolf knew them as a couple for more than 30 years.
"Harmon had three great loves in his life," Wolf said. "Jesus, Judy, and justice."
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The Harmon Wray Fund has been set up at Edgehill United Methodist Church which will be used to continue Harmon’s prison ministry life work. Please write checks to Edgehill United Methodist Church noting that the gift is for The Harmon Wray Fund and send it to:
Edgehill United Methodist Church
The Harmon Wray Fund
PO Box 128258
Nashville, TN 37212
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Harmon Wray died Tuesday, July 24, 2007 from complications of a massive stroke. His ministry with Edgehill United Methodist Church, the Tennessee Conference, Vanderbilt University and beyond provided profound inspiration for those who knew and loved Harmon and his life partner, Judy Parks. Harmon’s ability to see himself as “no better than” was a gift. He regarded people on death row to be as human and as filled with God’s spirit as any of the rest of us. For many years he was a volunteer in the Visitor On Death Row program which fostered friendships between free world people and those condemned to death by the state. He was willing to put everything on the line for his beliefs and did so many times over. His ear was available to people regardless of their station in life.
Visitation will be Friday evening, July 27 at Edgehill UMC (15th and Edgehill Ave.) from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. The Memorial Service will be Saturday morning, July 28 at 10 a.m. at Belmont UMC. Condolences may be sent to: Judy Parks, 1109 Graybar Lane, Nashville, TN 37204
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
In Memory of Harmon Wray
Harmon Wray, a tireless crusader to end the death penalty, suffered a massive stroke yesterday and was removed from life support this afternoon. Harmon was an organizing member of TCASK and has been relentless in his work to end the death penalty in our state. Harmon was a champion for prison reform and upholding the dignity of those who are incarcerated.
As a teacher and author, he educated countless numbers of people concerning the myriad problems with our current criminal justice system. As adjunct faculty of Vanderbilt Divinity School, Harmon created and coordinated a class at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, comprised of both Vanderbilt students and inmates. Harmon was also a founder of the Restorative Justice Coalition of Tennessee, seeking to transform the current criminal justice system from a system primarily focused on punishment to one which facilitates healing and restoration. Most recently, he authored, Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for our Failed Prison System.
Harmon was formerly with the Tennessee Conference Correctional Ministries staff of the Methodist Church and the General Board of Mission. Harmon continued to be an active member of Edgehill United Methodist Church.
Harmon Wray followed the way of Jesus to the end, still giving of himself, even in death as an organ donor. He took Jesus' call to visit the prisoner to heart and spent his life as a fierce advocate for those who are incarcerated. I count him as a mentor and a friend, and today my heart is very heavy as I cannot imagine the world without him. Still, I know that Harmon's spirit will remain with us and will continue to inspire all of us as we struggle together to end the death penalty in Tennessee.
Stacy Rector
Executive Director
Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing
PO Box 120552
Nashville, TN 37212
615-256-3906
Posted by lois at July 24, 2007 09:22 PM