Gray was one of the first Western teachers and practitioners of Reiki, an ancient hands-on healing modality that was virtually unknown among medical professionals until recently, but now is widely practiced. Mehmet Oz, M.D., of Oprah fame, and Christiane Northrup, M.D., are two of the many doctors who now credit Reiki as an important and valid healing tool.
In the early '70's in Redwood City, Gray founded the first Reiki center in the U.S., and launched what has become a worldwide movement in alternative healing. She travelled internationally, speaking and teaching, and introduced Reiki to the continent of Australia.
Beth Kathelin Gray is survived by her daughter, writer and producer, Kathelin Gray, her son, woodworker John Gray, her grandchildren Christina and Jason Gray, her sisters Joy Atwood and Emilie Anderson, and her brother, developer and former Ambassador to Portugal, Alfred Hoffman.
Her former husband and Reiki Master, John Harvey Gray, age 91, lives in Rindge, New Hampshire, with his second wife Lourdes Gray. Lourdes runs the John Harvey Gray Center for Reiki Healing. (http://learnreiki.org).
The eldest of 7 children, Beth was born near Chicago on April 11, 1918, to an immigrant father from Austria-Hungary, and a Southern belle from Kentucky. Beth was a gifted violinist and, as a teenager, concertmaster of the Chicago Women's Symphony. She left home at 18, giving up the violin to study laboratory medicine at Stanford University.
As World War II ended, she married Dartmouth graduate John Harvey Gray in Stanford Chapel, and settled in Woodside, California, where they raised their two children. John was employed by Bank of America and Stanford Research Center, working in computer science.
While raising her children, her interest in spirituality led her to a long quest, studying and experiencing many approaches and modalities. In the early '70's, Beth founded the Trinity Metaphysical Center in Redwood City, a pioneering center for interchange of both spiritual teachings from around the world and alternative healing activities.
At Trinity, when she hosted the Hawaian-born Reiki Master, Hawayo Takata, Beth discovered the healing modality she had sought her entire life. Reiki is a Japanese form of sophisticated hands-on healing described in ancient texts from many spiritual traditions.
Takata often stayed at the Grays' home and taught; through Beth, she was also ordained as a minister. John Harvey and Beth later divorced, and taught separately, though they remained lifelong friends and spiritual partners.
Beth closed Trinity in order to devote herself to traveling in the U.S. and worldwide. She introduced Reiki to the continent of Australia. Aided by her natural charisma, beauty, and wit, Beth brought the method and practice of Reiki to thousands of people. She spoke to large gatherings, appeared on radio and television shows, at the same time carefully transmitting the scrupulous healing methods to small groups of laymen, doctors and nurses.
She also brought groups of students to the Philippines to investigate and experience the 'psychic surgeons' of that country.
In 1993, days before her 75th birthday, a stroke ended her extensive travel and public teachings. She had neglected to pay
attention to her own high blood pressure brought on by overwork.
The doctors at the time of her stroke said she would
survive no more than a couple of years, but she enjoyed a full 15 years more of life. To Beth, surviving her stroke signified
that her outer spiritual teaching time was over, and it was time to concentrate on meditation to refine her inner emotional
and spiritual life, and perfect her already well-developed psychic gifts. Many people wrote that she had permanently
affected their lives. She remained very social, entertaining visitors, and she lit up every room she entered.
Shortly before her 90th birthday on April 11, 2008, she understood that soon she would make her transition. It was her wish that her body be cremated and the ashes scattered on the ocean.
Beth's legacy is the growing acceptance and practice of 'energy' and alternative healing techniques, incorporated into the Western scientific medical discipline. Her earthy spirituality affected all who met her, and is transmitted in the teachings that thousands received from her speech and presence.
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