Wendell Oliver Gray was born in Prineville, Oregon, in 1908. He studied law at the University of Oregon, but was unable to finish due to a case of appendicitis around 1928. While at the university, he met Jean Patrick. They married in 1936 and later had two children. After Gray worked for a few years, he finished his studies at the Northwestern College of Law in Portland, graduating in 1934. He began practicing law in Portland, specializing in maritime law. In 1937, he got the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company as a client. During World War II, that company serviced the entire U.S. domestic fleet. He was on the board of directors of Family Life, a mortgage insurance company, from 1951 until it was purchased by Merrill Lynch in the mid-1970s. Gray was chairman of the Portland Chamber of Commerce from 1951 to 1952, and he served on the Portland School Board from 1948 to 1956. He resigned from law practice in 1971. Jean died in 1972, and in 1973, he and Diana Barnard were married. Gray died in 1995.