Gary L. Gray
Gary was born in the Grandfield Hospital in Grandfield, Oklahoma in 1941, the eleventh child of Wesley Thomas and Mary Gray. Gary grew up in Grandfield, attending Grandfield grade schools. Gary was on the football team that won the State High School Championship in 1958 and graduated from Grandfield High School in 1959. He attended Cameron University in Lawton and graduated from the Dallas Institute of Mortuary Science in Dallas, Texas in 1963.
Gary received many professional honors and served in a number of civic organizations. In 1990, Gary was appointed by Governor Walters to be a member of the Oklahoma State Board of Funeral Directors. Gary served as the President of the Oklahoma State Board of Funeral Directors from 1992 until 1993. He served as an officer of the Oklahoma Funeral Director’s Association from 1979 until 1983 when he was elected as President. He was voted as the Oklahoma Funeral Director of the year in 1984. Gary has served on the Grandfield School Board and is a member of the Masonic Lodge. He has been a member of the Rotary, Lions, and Jaycees of Frederick and of the Lawton Rotary Club and Lawton Kiwanis Club. Gary has served on numerous boards of the First United Methodist Churches in Grandfield, Frederick and Lawton. The Grays are members of the First United Methodist Church in Lawton.
Judy Gray
Judy was born in Frederick in 1941, one of three daughters of Loyd and Ruth Hasenmyer. Judy grew up in Grandfield, attending Grandfield grade schools and graduated as Salutatorian from Grandfield High School in 1959. Judy attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman and Cameron University in Lawton.
Judy has also served in numerous civic organizations. She is currently a member of the P.E.O. sisterhood, Chapter CE, but was initiated as a member of the Grandfield PEO, Chapter EF. She had served in several PEO offices, including president. Judy was a class parent and sponsored several trips by the University of Oklahoma Speech and Debate Team including one to Baltimore, Maryland. Judy was active in the Lawton Business and Professional Women’s club and was the treasurer of the Lawton Book and Play Review club for many years.
Their Life Together
Gary and Judy were high school sweethearts and married on Valentine’s Day in 1960 in Grandfield. Gary and Judy bought the Boydstun Funeral Home in Grandfield in 1964 and renamed it Gray Funeral Home. The Grays lived in Grandfield from 1964 until 1977 and they have always referred to Grandfield as “home”.
Gary and Judy have operated the Gray Funeral Home in Grandfield since 1964 and now advise and assist their children, Kris and Kara, in its continued operation. Gary and Judy also owned and operated the Gray Gish Funeral Home in Frederick, the Gray Funeral Home of Frederick and the Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home in Lawton. For over forty years, Gary and Judy have devoted their lives to their ministry of serving families in grief.
In addition to operating their round the clock businesses, Gary and Judy have always been active in farming. For over forty years, the Grays have farmed the land near Grandfield, Oklahoma that was originally owned by Samuel Hasenmyer, Judy’s grandfather. Gary and Judy enjoy farming with their son and daughter-in-law, William and Jimma Gray.
The Grays have four children, William, Kara, Kris and Laurie. They also have eight grandchildren: Jennifer, Jade, Josh and Jonathan Gray of Grandfield, Bailey and Justin Ludlum of Lawton and Chloe and Grayson Hume of Oklahoma City.