[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3895-3896]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO ROBERT HAWKES GRAY

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to an extraordinary 
Vermonter, Robert Hawkes Gray. Bob, as he is known to family and 
friends, grew up in Putney where his parents worked at the Putney 
School. His father, Edward, was in charge of buildings and grounds, and 
his mother, Mabel, ran the kitchen. Ed's ability to fix anything and 
Mabel's cooking and way of keeping order are remembered vividly and 
fondly to this day by thousands of Putney graduates.
  Bob attended Putney where he learned to ski cross-country thanks to 
Olympian skier John Caldwell, the father of cross-country skiing in 
America who taught at the school. Bob went on to run the outdoor work 
program at Putney and coached cross-country skiing and running. He 
became an Olympian himself, competing in the 1968 and 1972 winter 
games, and was inducted into Vermont's Ski and Snowboard Museum Hall of 
Fame.
  After skiing, Bob's lifetime passion has been farming. He and his 
wife, Kim, own and manage Four Corners Farm, one of the most successful 
vegetable and dairy farms in Vermont. Located on a beautiful hillside 
that levels off along the Connecticut River in South Newbury, the 
sprawling acreage of the farm is a model of order and astonishing 
productivity. Just about anything that will grow in Vermont, either in 
fields or in greenhouses heated by wood stoves, can be found there in 
abundance.
  Everyone knows that farm work is hard by any standard. It means 
rising before sunrise and long hours of strenuous physical labor that 
continues into the night. Anyone who visits Four Corners Farm can't 
help but wonder how they do it all. It is a testament to the benefits 
of regular physical exercise, as Bob, now 76, looks closer to 60 and 
has the strength of someone half his age. It wasn't all due to farming 
though. It is said that, when Jack Dempsey was the world heavyweight 
champion, Ed Gray's biceps measured the same diameter. Of course, Ed 
was an accomplished gardener himself.
  I could go on about Bob's talents as a farmer. A teacher by instinct, 
anyone who visits the farm may find themselves treated to a lesson in 
pruning tomato plants, planting and mulching strawberry seedlings, or 
the peculiar habits of honey bees. Kim, a former alpine ski racer 
herself, is also a gifted farmer whose stamp on the business can be 
seen everywhere. Neither could have made Four Corners Farm what it is 
today without the other.
  Bob never stopped skiing for fun, but he didn't take up racing again 
until the 1990s. This past winter he showed that, if you love something 
enough and give it everything you have got, just about anything is 
possible.
  At the World Masters cross-country ski races in Voukatti, Finland, 
and at the National Masters at Royal Gorge, CA, Bob won a gold medal, 
two silvers, and a bronze. Some might think that, by the time you get 
to be 76, you are probably skiing pretty slowly and there isn't that 
much competition in your age group anyway. Let's just say that at the 
Masters no one skis slowly--no one skis anything remotely like slowly. 
These are the best skiers in the world, and to the rest of us mere 
mortals, there isn't that much difference between them and today's 
Olympians.
  A March 31, 2016, article in the Valley News, entitled 
``Septuagenarian Gray Skiing His Way to Wins'' tells the story. I 
congratulate Bob Gray. He exemplifies the very best of Vermont for his 
inspiring work ethic, his ski racing accomplishments, and the example 
he has set for future generations of Vermont skiers and farmers. I ask 
unanimous consent that the article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 [From the Valley News, Mar. 31, 2016]

               Septuagenarian Gray Skiing His Way to Wins

              (By Jared Pendak, Valley News Staff Writer)

       Newbury, VT.--Bob Gray returned to cross country skiing 
     several years ago, primarily as a way to keep his heart 
     pumping. As it turned out, he's more than capable of breaking 
     the hearts of opponents.
       Gray, 76, recently swept a pair of races at the National 
     Masters Championships in Soda Springs, Calif., winning the 
     Masters 5B (ages 75-79) 10K classic race on March 19 in 33 
     minutes, 58.6 seconds, more than nine minutes faster than 
     runner up Hans Muehlegger, of Idaho, and good for 20th 
     overall in a field of 53.
       The next day, Gray placed fifth overall while winning his 
     70-79 age group in the season-ending U.S. Marathon National 
     Championship, finishing the 14K bronze race in 48:12.1--again 
     more than nine minutes ahead of Muehlegger.
       A two-time Olympian who competed on the U.S. Nordic Ski 
     Team from 1960-74, Gray had also swept both events in the 
     2015 National Masters Championships, held closer to home at 
     the Craftsbury (Vt.) Nordic Center.
       ``There isn't much competition for my age group in that 
     event,'' said Gray, who co-owns the Four Corners produce and 
     dairy farm in Newbury, Vt. ``I'd like to think part of it is 
     that I'm in pretty good shape.''
       Gray's competition was stiffer last month at the Masters 
     World Cup in Vuokatti, Finland, where he left with two silver 
     medals and a bronze. On Feb. 6, he bettered 75-year-old 
     Frenchman Daniel Chopard by two seconds for second place in 
     the 10K skate in 33:40, then beat Chopard by 35 seconds with 
     a time of 47:34.1 in the 15K skate Feb. 12.
       Norwegian Finn Magnar Hagen decidedly won both skate races, 
     finishing the 10K a good 2:40 ahead of Gray and besting him 
     in the 15K by nearly four minutes.
       ``There was just no catching Finn; he was just gone,'' said 
     Gray. ``On the other hand, me and Chopard had a great time 
     going back and forth. We'd pass each other and say, `All 
     right, I'll see you up ahead on the hill.'''
       Neither Hagen nor Chopard competed in the 5K classic on 
     Feb. 8, a race in which the top four were separated by just 
     17 seconds. Russia's Gennady Ushakov won in 18:10.9, followed 
     by Austrian Josef Schniagl, Gray (18:19.7) and Finland's 
     Taplo Wallenkus (18:27.9).
       ``I think I had a chance to win that race, but my skis just 
     weren't up to par with some of the skis these other guys 
     had,'' Gray said. ``I made one tactical error, started 
     kicking too lightly and it got me off-track. I was still able 
     to make up most of the places I lost and close the gap. It 
     was a close race, a fun race.''
       Gray, a Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum Hall of Fame 
     inductee whose wife, Kim, is a former U.S. Alpine skier, 
     competed in the 1968 and '72 Olympic Games. His best finish 
     was 12th place in the 4x1OK relay in

[[Page 3896]]

     the '68 Games in Grenoble, France, complementing three 
     combined top-50s in individual events at Grenoble and the '72 
     Games in Sapporo, Japan.
       The Putney, Vt., native also skied four seasons in the FIS 
     Cup (now known as the FIS World Cup), winning national titles 
     in the 15K and 50K and earning the top U.S. ranking in 1973.
       The Grays opened the Green Mountain Touring Center in 
     Randolph in 1977 while running their first farm in Hartland 
     Four Corners, inspiring the moniker they kept even after 
     moving operations to their plot in Newbury.
       Bob Gray later had about a 12-year hiatus from the sport 
     while devoted to raising the couple's three children and 
     farming, not strapping on skis again until the early 1990s.
       He competed off and on in various national and 
     international competitions, capturing bronze at an event in 
     Quebec City in 2001 and two silvers and a bronze five years 
     later in British Columbia. He began refocusing on training 
     and competing in earnest several years ago, motivated equally 
     by the desire to keep his heart rate up as much as keeping 
     his competitive juices going.
       ``When you get older, if you don't keep moving, you get 
     sick and die,'' Gray said plainly. ``So much of your health 
     is about staying active and exercising. I get some of that on 
     the farm, but I'm much more of a manager type now than I used 
     to be. So (returning to skiing) is a way to keep my heart 
     beating.''
       Like any snow sports athlete based in the area, Gray faced 
     challenges finding suitable surfaces to train on this winter. 
     He ventured to Craftsbury Nordic Center at times to practice 
     on their manmade trails, but most often settled for dry-land 
     exercises.
       ``I'd go up (North Haverhill's) Black Mountain, Mount 
     Moosilauke, sometimes Mount Ascutney, always with ski poles 
     to help practice balance,'' Gray said. ``I'd go uphill on 
     paved roads on rollerblades--I like rollerblades better than 
     roller skis. I can go from here up Snake Road to West 
     Newbury, which is about three miles, so that's perfect. The 
     only problem with that is that I'm too tired to skate home 
     after that so I have to have someone come get me.''
       Gray, who was trained in his youth by former Dartmouth 
     skier and Olympian John Caldwell, would like to see more kids 
     today on Nordic skis. He's given lessons in recent years at 
     Strafford Nordic Center and elsewhere.
       ``It's a great sport, a great way to get kids off of the 
     couch or away from the computer,'' Gray said. ``Plus, you can 
     do it until you're my age.''

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