2015 I MADE A DIFFERENCE HONOREE
Rev. Ann Gray Byrd
President Santa Rosa-Sonoma County NAACP
Ann Gray Byrd grew up in Santa Rosa, California. She is an advocate for civil rights and equality,
and is well known locally as an author and humanitarian as well as a motivational speaker.
Ann’s parents were instrumental in establishing the Santa Rosa Branch of the NAACP. Fresh out
of high school in 1954, Ann became the first secretary of the Santa Rosa NAACP. She got the job, she
says “Because I was the only one in the black community who know how to type!” “I always believed what
my father taught us, ‘Each One Teach One.’ It means each of us has the responsibility to bring somebody
else along, to give to others the same opportunities we seek for ourselves.”
Some of the many honors and awards of recognition include – State of California Legislative
Woman of the Year 2005, President’s Northern Area Conference NAACP Leadership Appreciation Award
1982, Mary McLeod Bethune Community Service Award given by National Council of Negro Women’s 1980
and Outstanding Professional Woman given by American Society for Public Administrators, 1972.
Ann Gray Byrd worked as a Human Resources Consultant for more than 30 years, she supervised
and/or directed the operations of administrative offices ranging from the Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship
and Training in Santa Rosa to the Motorola Corporation in Cupertino. Recent Human Resource/Personnel
experience includes seven years as Executive Director of the Gray Foundation, and four years as Assistant
Chief of Operations for the California Human Development Corporation. She became a member of the
International Conference of Police Chaplains in 1998, and served the Sonoma County Law Enforcement
Chaplaincy until taking a leave of absence in early 2002.
In 1992, she became the founding Executive Director of the Gray Foundation in 1992. In 1995, as
part of the Gray Foundation, she along with her son Curtis and life-long-friend Sheri Graves, founded “In
Partnership,” an after-school enrichment program for South Park kids, tutoring elementary school children
to develop reading, writing and math skills. The program was designed as an intervention project to assist
fourth, fifth and sixth graders at both South Park and attend Doyle Park elementary schools.
1
In 2003, Ann began a life-long project Glimpses: Eyewitnessed, Remembered, and Lived, a
chronological account of the African-American leaders in Sonoma County who found a way to “make a
contribution – to make our city, county, state and nation better.”
In February 2012, Ann, Ann Gray Byrd, president of the local branch of the NAACP, wrote the
stage adaption. She esteemed cast included Guy Johnson, the son of Maya Angelou; Dr. Amos Brown of
San Francisco’s historic Third Baptist Church; new Sonoma County Court Commissioner Anthony
Wheeldin, Judge Elliot Daum, former NFL greats Jerry Robinson and Honor Jackson, and Jesse Love, a
co-founder of Community Baptist Church.
The story being re-told, centers around Union General William Sherman’s 1865 order granting 40
acres of tillable land and a mule to some of the freed slaves in the South. Sherman and Edward Stanton,
the U.S. Secretary of War, met with 20 newly freed slaves in Savanna, Georgia, to discuss implementation
of the order. “It’s that remarkable gathering that will be brought back to life. We’ve never seen the likes of
the dramatic re-enactment that included potent cast of community leaders, most of them African-American,
onto the stage of Santa Rosa High School.”
Ann Gray Byrd has been a tireless leader serving in many capacities. During her 60-years in Santa
Rosa she has served in many local clubs and organizations:
2010 – Current
Santa Rosa-Sonoma County NAACP President
2008 – 2012
Santa Rosa Interfaith Ministerial Association President
2007 – 2009
ACLU Chair
2005 – 2010
ACLU Board of Directors
2002 – 2006
Santa Rosa-Sonoma County NAACP President
1976 – 1980
Santa Rosa-Sonoma County NAACP President
1974 – 1975
Founding member Commission on the Status of Women
1972 – 1976
Board of Directors, Sonoma County People for Economic
Opportunity (SCPEO)
1969 -- 1980
Founding member Santa Rosa National Association of Negro
Business & Professional Women’s Club
1954 – 1964
Santa Rosa-Sonoma County NAACP Secretary
Ann has three children: Curtis, Bryan (deceased) and Pam. Currently, Curtis is the CEO and
Executive Director for the Gray Foundation and Community Relations Specialist for Blood Centers of the
Pacific. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Sonoma State University and is currently completing a
Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Bryan previously
worked for Moore Business Forms and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from California Polytechnic
State University. Pam is a graduate of Bauer College and is the mother of two and grandmother of three.
2