Former Brookland-Cayce High School Teacher and Athletic Director Abby Bray is scheduled to be inducted into the Brookland-Cayce High School Education Foundation Educator Hall of Fame,

Thursday. His full name was Abbott L. “Abby” Bray, Jr., and he died in 2013.

The Brookland-Cayce High School Education Foundation’s 16th Annual Educator Hall of Fame Gala is at Seawell’s at 1125 Rosewood Drive, Columbia. The social hour begins at 6 p.m. A reception with hors d’oeuvres begins at 6:45 p.m.

Life-long friends and those who knew Bray well tell of his kindness, warmth and compassion for other people.

“He was loved by students, staff, his friends. Everybody loved Abby,” said Linda Alford-Wooten, chairwoman of the Lexington Two School District. She graduated with Bray from Brookland-Cayce High School in 1975.

Lynn Summer knew Bray since the ninth grade when they lived around the corner from each other in Cayce. The two were close friends for life. She said she has kept a voice message from him.

“Abby was special,” said Summer, who teaches health at Brookland-Cayce. “He was voted “Best All-Around” in our senior year. And that describes him.”

Summer also said as a teacher, Bray had the childrens’ best interest at heart.

David Diamond and Bray were friends for 50 years.

“We knew each other since we were both six-years-old,” Diamond said. They went to college together, were in the same fraternity and lived life as best friends. Diamond still gets emotional when talking about Bray.

“It’s very gratifying to see him inducted into the hall of fame,” Diamond said. “Abby had this saying, ‘It’s a beautiful thing,’” Diamond said. It fits here.”

Diamond said Bray worked hard and overcame a lot of adversity. “He touched so many lives. He was so good at relating, I think because he knew what they were going through,” he said.

BC Teacher Terry Boone also said Bray was special

“Coach Bray was one of the first people to befriend me as a new teacher at BC over 12 years ago. He was an encourager to students and faculty members,” Boone said. ” He loved Cayce-West Columbia and wanted students to appreciate the special things this area had to offer. Brookland-Cayce High School was part of him and he loved it. He was a father figure to so many students. It was not unusual to see alumni run up to him and hug his neck or shake his hand many years after he taught or coached them. They would often introduce him to their own children as ‘their favorite teacher.’ He definitely left his mark and his memory continues on.

Wooten agreed with Diamond, Summer and Boone.

“Our class was like a family, Wooten said. “It’s fabulous and well-deserved that Abby is being inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

She said Bray, who taught history, made his students “love learning.”

Wooten also said for Bray to work at his alma mater — where he also served as athletic director — was a “dream come true.”

She said he loved Cayce and West Columbia, and the University of South Carolina, from where he grad7uated, as much as the community loved him.

Bray died of cancer in May of 2013. He served on the West Columbia City Council, representing District 4, from 2011 until his death. A butterfly garden was dedicated in Bray’s name at the Jack Carraway Park on Hudson Street in West Columbia in 2015.

“He handled it so well,” Wooten said of Bray, after learning he had terminal cancer.

“Whatever the problem, Abby had a way of making you feel everything was going to be alright.”

Tickets are available for $25 per person. Call Nanette Wooten for more information at 739-8076 or visit the BCHS Foundation website.