Mary D. Gray

Mrs. Mary D. Gray was born Dec. 13, 1924, and passed away on Monday, March 3, 2014, in Blytheville.

Mary graduated from Blytheville High School. She worked as a secretary for a construction company that built Blytheville Air Force Base. After the base was completed she left and went to work as a secretary for Ark-Mo Power Company. Several years later, when the base was fully active, she took the position once again as a secretary in a civil service position for the construction and maintenance division. She later transferred to secretary for the Wing Commander and had obtained the highest level for civil service as a secretary. One of her fondest bosses that she has stayed in contact with over the years and is a good friend not only to Mary but also to a few of her nieces is General George McKee (Ret.) of Washington, D.C. A few years ago, Mary was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of going to the nation's capital of Washington, D.C., and while there, she and General McKee were able to reunite for one last and memorable visit.

Upon retirement from the civil service, she went to work at Cotton Boll, once again as a secretary. Mary had always enjoyed people and being active, so once she retired from Cotton Boll, she worked for a short time at the Shoney's Restaurant in Blytheville where she was a hostess. Once she left that position, she went to Ormond Beach, Fla., for a while to live with her son, Randall. But, home was always Blytheville and after about a year in Florida, both she and Randall moved back for good.

Mary was of the Baptist faith and when her son Randall was growing up, she would read to him faithfully from the Bible.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Freddie Lindennie Wright; her father Houston B. Wright; a son, H. Randall Gray; her husband, Harry Gray; three sisters, Margaret W. Haynes, Jessie Lynn McCammon and Virginia Wacasser; and a niece, Gail Badgett.

Mary is survived by her nephew, Robert Haynes of Orlando, Fla.; and

Her nieces, Margaret Ann Haynes Holstead of Elizabethtown, Ky., Sandi Dennis of Blytheville, Bettye Wilbanks of Ead, Tenn., Gary Elliott of Alabama and Myra Gail Johnson of Florida.

Private memorial services were held Saturday, March 8, 2014.