  
The Whitewright Sun Thursday, September 7, 1917 pg. 7 Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Ray was born in Monroe County, Kentucky, August 23, 1854. While but a child, she with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Beall, moved to Tennessee where she remained until she was sixteen years of age. Her father having died in Tennessee, her mother married Mr. J.F. Duke, and in 1871 they came to Texas. On January 30, 1873 Elizabeth married Dr. David Miller Ray with whom she lived in sweetest companionship until his death May 7, 1908. To this union were born three daughters, Mrs. Womack, Inez and Gladys, all of whom survive her. A son, David Bright, the second child, died when but five years of age. Mrs. Ray departed this life to be with her Lors August 20, 1917, and in the presence of a large concourse of friends and kindred, her body was laid to rest beside that of her devoted husband and little boy on the afternoon of the 22nd. Sister Ray obeyed the Gospel when only ten years of age, and walked in the truth until she fell asleep in Jesus. As her former pastor, I knew her well, and loved her for her real worth as a Christian. She was a most remarkable woamn, possessing in a marked degree those elements that constitute real strength of character. She was blessed with a keen judgment of men and affairs that enabled her to successfully shoulder the many business responsibilities left her by her husband when he went away. She was self-reliant, never asking any one to do for her what she knew she could do herself. With a clear vision of duty and unswerving integrity of heart she faced with heroic courage the heavy responsibilities of life, and proved herself a master burden bearer under the sorrows and troubles of her pilgrimage. I have often thought that she possessed the genuine elements of leadership and that had she been a man she would have made a gifted military commander. In the moral and spiritual realm she had a tender and well trained conscience that gave her convictions of truth and right deep and strong. She despised moral weakness and unreliability, sham and hypocrisy. She was always the friend of the true and genuine, and the outspoken censor of the false and unreal. If there are critics who survive her, they are those who have felt the force of her words in maintaining the right and condemning the wrong. No girls can boast of a better and wiser mother. Her love and deovtion to her daughters will ever remain as the sweetest of their memories of her. Her constant thought and care for their welfare will make them feel more keenly her going away. Her friendship and fellowship will ever be treasured by the writer and his family as among the sweetest experiences of life. Her life was an open book. Her confident trust in the Lord, and her faithfulness in his service furnish assurance to her sorrowing loved ones that though absent from the body she is at home with the Lord. Immeasurable this comfort and consolation! Let us so live that we may meet her in the sweet bye and bye. H.G. Fleming The Bonham Daily Favorite Friday, December 27, 1968 pg. 10 SERVICES FOR GLADYS RAY SET SATURDAY Whitewright - Funeral services for Miss Gladys Bright Ray, teacher, author and historian, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Earnheart Chapel. Interment will be in the Whitewright City Cemetery. Miss Ray died in a Sherman hospital, Tuesday, December 24, 1968, where she had been since Saturday. She was born in Whitewright, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. D.M. Ray and had lived in Whitewright all her life. She was a graduate of Grayson college and organized and served as president of the Grayson college Ex-Students Association for more than 20 years. Miss Ray graduated from Boston college with a major in English and taught in the Whitewright and Gainesville high schools before retiring in the early 1940s. She was author of Murder at the Corners and Legends of Red River Valley. She had just completed a book on the life of Tom Bean. She was the organizer and first president of the Friday literary club of Whitewright and a member of Central Christian Church. She was a director of the Whitewright City cemetery. Miss Ray was a cousin of Dr. John Ray who is in the VA Center domiciliary in Bonham and is survived by a number of nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews. The Bonham Daily Favorite Friday, January 23, 1948 pg. 6 INEZ RAY RITES AT WHITEWRIGHT Whitewright (spl) - Funeral services were held at the First Christian Church here Thursday afternoon for Miss Inez A. Ray, active participant in community and county civic affairs. She died in a Sherman hospital following an extended illness. Daughter of the late Dr. and Mrs. D.M. Ray, Miss Ray was born in Whitewright. She was a graduate of Grayson College and did post-graduate work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and at the University of Colorado. Survivors include a sister, Miss Gladys Ray, of Whitewright, and two nephews. Miss Ray was a past president of the Whitewright LIterary Club, a member of the executive committee of the Grayson County American Red Cross, secretary of the Red Cross 1944-46; local chairman of the Red Cross membership campaign; secreatary-treasurer of Grayson County Federation of Women's Clubs, 1944-46.  Whitewright City Cemetery Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |
