'City girl' remains at helm of Ritzville Drug

RITZVILLE – Eight years ago pharmacist Corrina Gray resisted her father's entreaties. He goaded her to leave Spokane and take the reins of Ritzville Drug. But she considered herself a "city girl."

Years prior, she and her father, Sam Duncan, discussed going into business together. "We talked about buying a little 'mom and pop' somewhere," she said. "But he went off on his own and picked Ritzville. I didn't have any say."

Born in Santa Clara, California, Gray grew up in San Jose where she graduated high school. That summer, her mother, who worked at Washington State University, introduced Gray to a job as a lab technician at a vivarium (a place for studying animals).

"I really liked that job because I like animals. There were dogs, rats, mice, guinea pigs and rabbits," she said. "I was the 'good guy' who cleaned cages. I wasn't the one doing the experiments."

Why did Gray choose a pharmaceutical career? "I didn't know what to do with my life, so when I came to the northwest after high school, Dad compiled a list of careers that included ophthalmology, dentistry, and pharmacy. I picked pharmacy," she said.

At that time, the pharmacy school held classes in Wegner Hall at the university. "I was working at the vivarium in the basement, Dad was taking courses on the middle floors, and my mom was working with inventory on the top floor," she said. "Dad graduated a few years before I did."

Gray started undergraduate courses at the University of Idaho but dropped out of college after meeting her husband and the birth of her two sons. For a time she worked as a daycare cook and server at Arby's.

But she found those jobs neither satisfying nor lucrative, so she returned to school. "I hated being poor," she said. After her daughter was born, Gray continued taking classes "with my daughter Caitlin on my hip," she recalls. "Caitlin got a lot of lessons in physics as a baby."

Gray completed undergraduate courses at the University of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College, and in 2001 earned her doctorate from WSU.

After finishing pharmacy school, Gray took a job at Safeway. "I worked as a 'float,' where you move around to each store. I liked working with different people every day," she said. Gray also honed her skills at a Spokane firm that prepared prescription "bubble packs" for nursing homes and special needs facilities.

Her oldest son, Jake, graduated in 2020 from WSU where he majored in chemical engineering. He lives in Virginia. Her son, Aric, enlisted in the Marines and served as a radio repair man. He's currently attending school in Spokane. Her daughter, Caitlin, helps with bookkeeping at Ritzville Drug. "It's nice to have her here," Gray said.

Gray's first impressions of Ritzville: "It was loud. The trains woke me up. But now I don't even hear them. Also, I worked retail forever and folks here are a helluva lot nicer than big city people who treat you like trash because you're a 'nobody.' Most everybody here treats you respectfully."

What would Gray change about Ritzville? She would like trains to stop blaring their horns as they pass through town. She also hopes another quality restaurant-a place that serves healthy non-American food, like Thai cuisine-will set up shop.

Other suggestions?

"How about more trees and less wind?" she said with a grin.