John D. Gray was born in Boscobel, Wisconsin, August 19, 1874, the son of Jonathan and Susan Bowles Gray. The family moved from Wisconsin to a farm in Iowa in 1882. They sold the farm and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1892. Mr. Gray was a clerk in the Yerxa Brothers Grocery store for two years, then he went with the P. H. Kelly Co. - wholesale grocery house - for thirteen years. He came to Valley City in 1905 and entered into a partnership with H. M. Velsey in a grocery store for two years. He organized the John D. Gray Co. with G. L. Farnham and A. P. Peake. At first the company handled only groceries, then added dry goods. The building on (5th Ave.) Central Avenue in the 300 block was built by George W. Young and leased to the John D. Gray Co. In 1922 the building and contents were destroyed by fire, when the water pressure could not handle the needs of the fire department. On January 7, 1908 John D. Gray and Cora Dwight, daughter of Charles A. and Sybil Dwight of Benson, Minnesota, were married. Mr. Gray was a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Elks.

The Fidelity Building and Loan Association was the brain child of John D. Gray organized in 1922. He served for thirty-two years as Secretary-Manager until his retirement in 1954. He died in 1956.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 83