Gray, Mary Ellen (1938-2003)
GRAY, STRAYER, HUMPHREY, HUTCHINSON, REEDY, SANDELL, HARTMAN, LATCH, BIERSTEDT
Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 11/22/2010 at 12:40:24
Mary Ellen Gray
November 23, 1938 - June 27, 2003Mary Ellen Gray, 64, Algona, formerly of Alta, died on Friday, June 27, 2003, in the Hospice Unit at the Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona.
Mary Ellen Gray was born on November 23, 1938, in Algona to John and Faye Humphrey Strayer. She attended school in Algona until her sophomore year when she went to live with her aunt and uncle, Merle and Marjorie Humphrey, in Lohrville where she graduated from High School.
On May 27, 1956, Mary married Melvin Gray at the First Christian Church in Lohrville. They moved to Alta in 1962 where they raised their four children. After their children graduated, she decided to work outside the home. Mary worked at the Lamplighter Motel and the nursing home in Storm Lake. The couple moved to Estherville in 1983. Mary worked at the GIasslite in Dunnell, Minnesota.
Mary and Melvin moved to Algona in January of 1989. They bought a garden center, and Mary added her crafts and ceramics into the business which she truly enjoyed until she became too ill to work.
Mary enjoyed doing crossword puzzles, reading books, making crafts, and caring for her flower beds and vegetable garden. She also loved to cook.
Mary was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and had been Worthy Matron for three different Chapters, most recently the Algona Chapter number 68. She enjoyed traveling and meeting new friends in the two years that Melvin was a Grand Lodge Officer of the Masons of Iowa.
Mary is survived by Melvin Gray, her husband of forty-seven years. Three sons also survive: Dale Gray, and his wife, Susan, of Jackson, Michigan, Mike Gray, and his wife, Michell, of Hills, Minnesota, Craig Gray, and his wife, "Missy" Michelle, of Fayetteville, Georgia; seven grandchildren and two step-grandchildren. Mary is also survived by two brothers: John Strayer, and his wife, Louise, of Kissimmee, Florida, and Nathan Strayer, and his wife, Marian, of Klemme; five sisters: Naomi Hutchinson, and her husband, Gordon, of Hardy, Bonnie Reedy, and her husband, Larry, of Ft. Dodge, Doris Sandell, and her husband, Gary, of Gamer, Janice Hartman, and her husband, Merle, of Milford, and Denise Latch, of Clear Lake; as well as many nieces, nephews and cousins.
She was preceded in death by a daughter, Teresa Gray; a sister, Nancy Bierstedt; and her parents, John and Faye Strayer.
Funeral Services for Mary Ellen Gray will be at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1, 2003, at the First United Methodist Church in Algona with Reverend Philip J. Webb Officiating. Burial will be in the Evergreen Cemetery in rural Lohrville.
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