Joni Lee Gray, who served 14 years representing Orcutt and Santa Maria on the County Board of Supervisors, died suddenly last week, reportedly of an aortic aneurism. She was 75.
A private attorney, Gray was one of a very few lawyers in California to pass the state bar exam without having attended law school. A self-described child of Santa Maria’s oil patch — her father cofounded the well-known oil service company Engel & Gray — Joni Gray was a staunch supporter of oil development while on the Board of Supervisors. It was as if oil, commented one of her fellow supervisors, ran in her veins.
Gray was also a dependable vote in favor of property rights. Smart, outspoken, charming, and funny, Gray started her political career — first as a school boardmember, then as a planning commissioner, and ultimately as a supervisor — as a strident critic of the South Coast environmental majority then calling the shots. But Gray would also enjoy political life in the driver’s seat, part of the pro-growth conservative majority on the board that also included 5th District Supervisor Joe Centeno and 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone.