[2] He started his adult life as a lighthouse keeper, trimming the wicks of the big oil lamps at Diamond Head and Barber's Point.
In 1917 at age 28, working as a chauffeur in Honolulu, he registered with the draft for World War I, but never served, as he was married with three children and one on the way.
[3] By 1940 he was an overseer at Waialee Training School For Boys (reformatory), while wife Lydia was a choreographer for the local orchestra.
Bray's wife Lydia claimed royal lineage through her mother, Nakaikaina, but there is no written documentation.
His mother having died when he was young, Bray was Hānai (adopted) and raised by his aunt, kahuna Lukia Kahalaopuna.
"In the developing tourist economy, Hawaiian cultural practitioners like David and Lydia Bray labored to revive traditional forms of hula but also put themselves on display.
It stated in part: WHEREAS, due to the great diligence and interest of David K. Bray together with the enthusiastic assistance of his family, he has bridged the deep gap which threatened to doom the Hula and spanned two conflicting schools of thought, to revive and preserve the Hula in its ancient form; and WHEREAS he has for fifty years been a practicing Kahuna, has long been a high priest of the Sons and Daughters of Hawaiian Warriors, [a group of 100 with demonstrated lineage to the court of Kamehameha] and is a master and the leading exponent of the old Hawaiian chants and meles, and for many years has been in great demand for ceremonial blessings at private and public ceremonies, including this House of Representatives...[12]When asked by a reporter about kahuna power, he said he believed in their power.
[13] By the 1950s, David's daughter Odetta, married Arthur Rosson the Hollywood film producer and actor.
But Long wrote, "I am not at all sure that he has ever read any of my books, but feel that if he has, he fails to understand my reasons for arriving at certain conclusions.