50 years after LI hospital's first MLK celebration, a founder returns  

In her way, Mattie Gray helped bring a bit of the civil rights movement to a Long Island hospital 50 years ago.

In 1970, Gray was a worker in the dietary department of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset when workers decided they wanted to hold a celebration for the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. The sentiment built to the point where the cooks threatened to call in sick that day if it didn't happen, Gray recalled Friday.

The hospital acquiesced, and Gray helped prepare the commemoration of the civil rights leader, who had been assassinated only two years before.

On Friday, Gray returned to the hospital and recalled that moment of resistance during the 50th anniversary MLK celebration. 

"That was the first program — you see how it started and how sweet it was," said Gray, 82, a former Great Neck resident who now lives in Georgia. She added, "We were doing something to respect his effort, and bring people together."

When the workers got the go-ahead for a ceremony, Gray worked with head cook Robert (Bob) McGhee to prepare it. They had only a day to get everything ready. Gray had a record player and McGhee came over to her house to transfer excerpts from a record of King's speeches onto a tape.

"We stayed up till 2 in the morning getting it together," Gray said. During the ceremony attended by about 20 workers, people walked into the room and heard the booming voice of the civil rights icon.

"It was like he was here in the flesh," she said. "There were some tears, some hugs."

Friday's ceremony, where Gray received a standing ovation and a big bunch of flowers, was a stark reminder of how times have changed. This time, the ceremony was held in the hospital's big auditorium with several hundred people hearing speeches from the hospital's top brass as well as performances by the Uniondale High School Show Choir and Grammy-winning violinist Miri Ben-Ari.

Gray was humble about her own contribution, giving the lion's share of credit to McGhee.

"I know Reverend King would be happy to know Bob planted a seed and it has spread wide," she said. "It started very small and it ended very large."

The day brought to mind Gray's own upbringing in Alabama, where segregation was widespread and brutally enforced. She said she's seen so much change for the better in her lifetime, but that more needs to occur.

"A lot of people don't want to move," she said.

Her message was simple:

"Keep marching."

The ceremony also featured a talk by author Michael Eric Dyson, a Georgetown University sociology professor and opinion writer for The New York Times. 

"We have to unlock the power of diversity," Dyson said. "You'd be surprised what you can learn from people you think you're better than."

Delving into King's message of brotherhood, Dyson echoed one of King's memorable sentiments.

"If we do not love each other and reach out to one another, we will perish as fools," he said.

By Craig Schneider

craig.schneider@newsday.comScraigo

Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.