Gray Johnson graduated from Stroudsburg High School in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and then attended the Johnson C. Smith University and Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister, and entered military service in May 1948. After attending the Chaplains School at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, he attended an advanced course at the Chaplain’s School in Fort Slocum, New York, in 1959. During his service in the Korean War, he was twice decorated with the Silver Star for his gallantry in combat. After retiring from the Army as a colonel, he worked from 1971 to 1991 as a counselor at Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania.