Community Corner

Fund Established for Girl Who Lost Her Only Parent

When Real estate agent Jamie Gray died on Nov. 4, her adopted daughter, 17, was left without a family.

A fund has been established for a 17-year-old Novato girl whose single mother died on Nov. 4, leaving the adopted girl with no relatives.

Jamie Gray, a Bradley Real Estate agent out of the San Anselmo office and a Novato resident, died unexpectedly at age 68. Gray adopted her daughter, Lauren, from Shanghai, China, when Lauren was a young girl.

“This is a one-of-a-kind thing because Lauren doesn’t have anybody else,” said Robert Bradley, president of Bradley Real Estate. “We’ve had agents pass away before, but there has always been some family. In this case, many of our agents have offered more than money, such as care for Lauren and their time.”

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Lauren is a standout student at and a volunteer for events at the and the Novato-based Marin Chinese Cultural Association, according to a notice about the fund sent out by the high school. A member of the Novato High tennis team, Lauren is a senior and hopes to attend UC Berkeley or UC Santa Barbara next fall.

“One very unique attribute of Novato High is that we look at ourselves as a family,” Principal Rey Mayoral said. “When our students, staff and families need our support, we are here to help, comfort and provide needed assistance. We have experienced a number of tragedies over the year,  and we want our community to now they can depend on us.”

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Lauren is being cared for by Dongfen Gao and Huiying Shen, the parents of her best friend, Grace Shen.

Bradley said Jamie Gray worked about 10 years for Bradley Real Estate and previously for Frank Howard Allen Real Estate.

“It’s not just Bradley who is responding to this, it’s the (Marin) Realtors Association and other agents all over. … She knew a lot of people. The community has shown a lot of support so far.”

To help Lauren, Bradley Real Estate has established the Jamie Gray Memorial Fund at Novato-based . Bradley said there wasn’t time to set it up as a charitable foundation, so donations are not tax deductable for the time being.

“We’re working on that,” he said. “This is a Band-aid. I’m told that when this has been done in the past, there is an immediate outpouring of support, and we wanted to capture that for Lauren. We’re confident that some major donors will be able to step up if we can make it tax deductable.”

A source at Circle Bank said checks written to account number 20206644 can be dropped off at the main branch at 1400 Grant Ave. Checks may be mailed to:

The Jamie Gray Memorial Fund

Acct# 20206644

c/o Bradley Real Estate

851 Irwin St. #104

San Rafael CA 94901


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