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As the speech goes, it’s true that all people live according to the same pattern. We are born, “Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms,” grow up, marry, raise children and die. But, as a writer of more modern times put it, it’s the way you played the game that counts, not whether you won or lost. Younger people feel a sadness concerning older people who are in the final scenes of life’s “play” but there’s something heartening about an elderly man who has lived to the fullest and looks back with pride at his accomplishments. “Judge” W. C. Gray of Palacios is such a man. Still as active in business as his health permits, Judge Gray now has trouble with his eyes, not recognizing old friends at times. His speech is soft and restricted and he walks only a short distance, then takes a chair and rests. But his mind is still active and you hear the pride in his voice as he recalls his younger days. Short, gray-haired and slightly on the heavy side, Judge Gray was born in Manchester, Ohio, October 17, 1876—the son of a lawyer. While still very young, his family broke up and he went to live with his grandmother for a time. When only 10 years old, Gray was orphaned with no place to go or call home. Taking odd jobs and wandering from place to place he attended school regularly—supplying his own means. For a time Gray worked as a janitor and helped a doctor, attending Washburn college in Topeka, Kansas. For five years he went to school at Southern Kansas Academy, obtaining his money by working on farms between sessions. He attended Kansas Normals during summer sessions. Gray is one of a very few local veteran of the Spanish-American War, having served in 21st Kansas Volunteer Infantry. While playing a game of whist in a drug store in Madison, Kansas in 1905, a friend suggested that he and Gray migrate to Texas. Judge Gray approved of the suggestion and a short time he was teaching school in Rock Island, Texas. In those days Palacios was a gay place. The Townsite Company was holding a big land sale and the Palacios Hotel (now Luther) had an orchestra playing noon and evening, with dances every night except Sunday. So, being single and having never seen salt water, Gray jumped at the chance to come to Palacios as superintendent of schools in 1906. There were only three teachers in the high school at the time and only eight classes a day were taught. Judge Gray taught whatever classes were left after the other teachers were assigned. Since that date Judge Gray has served as Matagorda County School superintendent, County Judge, a member of the local school board and president of the school board. He has been active in all typed of civic organizations, including the Seawall Commission. He is an honorary retired member of the Palacios Rotary Club. Still operating his insurance agency here, he points with the most pride at a baseball team he managed at Palacios High School for a number of years. The team was far superior to most town teams in the Palacios area and once played Baylor a nine inning game of errorless ball, losing 3-0. Gray tells the story of how the team had a game scheduled with Port Lavaca’s town team. When the Port Lavaca team arrived in Palacios, the manager inquired where the baseball team was. Someone told him the only team in Palacios was at the high school. The Port Lavaca manager was insulted that a high school team thought it could stay on the field with his squad, but the visitors from across the bay went on up to the school to play the game. When they returned home after the affray, they had taken a sound drubbing at the hands of Judge Gray’s fielding specialists. Gray was married to a Palacios teacher in 1907. The couple have three children, W. C. Gray, Jr., a lawyer of Houston; Ouida Gray, who teaches art at St. Thomas University in Houston; and Wanda, a teacher in Incarnate Word College. Sitting with the ever present cigar in his mouth, Gray can recall the experiences of his active life and hold a listener’s interest for hours. He’s playing the final scenes, but can point with dignity to the drama of his life. There can be only a feeling of pride and accomplishment when the curtain finally closes. Judge Gray received a letter from Bernice Smoker, one of his first pupils in Palacios, dated December 30, 1956, in which she wrote: I shall always remember “Prof. Gray” as one of my very few Great Teachers. I was only 15 when you taught me, in a most diplomatic manner, never to alibi for my failures and inabilities which has been to be one of the basic principles of my life. I have quoted you each year in my long teaching career, to my pupils, so you can see you are really eternal if you live in their minds as you have lived in mine.
Palacios Beacon, January 17, 1957 |
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Funeral services for W. C. Gray, who passed away in a Houston hospital Thursday morning, September 25, were held at 10 a. m. Saturday at the Palms Funeral Home in Houston. The body was sent to San Antonio for burial Monday in the National Cemetery. Mr. Gray was born in Manchester, Ohio, on October 17, 1876. When very young, his family broke up and he went to live with his grandmother. When only 10 years old, Gray was orphaned with no place to go or call home. Taking odd jobs for his means of support and wandering from place to place, he attended school regularly. He attended Washburn College, Topeka, Kansas; Southern Kansas Academy and Kansas Normal. In 1905, a friend suggested that he and Gray migrate to Texas and a short time later he was teaching school in Rock Island, Texas. He came to Palacios as superintendent of schools in 1906. Later he opened a law office and insurance business. Judge Gray served as Matagorda County School Superintendent, County Judge, City Attorney and President of the Palacios School Board. He was always active in civic organizations. He was a member of the local Masonic Lodge, a Shriner, an honorary retired member of the Palacios Rotary Club and served on the Seawall Commission for many years. He was one of a very few local veterans of the Spanish-American War, having served in the 21st Kansas Volunteer Infantry. He was married to a Palacios teacher, Nelly Kennedy, in 1907, who survives with their three children, W. C. Gray, Jr. of Houston; Ouida Gray of Houston; Sister Adrain Frances Gray of San Antonio and two grandchildren.
Palacios Beacon, October 2, 1958 |
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In peaceful Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, we placed the earthly remains of our beloved sister, Nelly Kennedy Gray, beside those of her husband, William Clifton Gray, a veteran of two wars and known for years, as "Judge Gray." Nelly Gray died in Houston, August 27, 1965, following her husband in death by almost exactly seven years. Both were long time residents of Palacios, Texas, and members of the First Presbyterian Church there. Both lived there before their marriage in 1907, and until the death of the Judge in 1958. They are survived by their three children: Ouida Gray of Houston, W. C. Gray, Jr. of Sealy, Texas, and Sister Adrain Francis Gray of San Antonio. Nell, the daughter of Rev. J. E. Kennedy, who was Pastor, many years ago, of the First Baptist Church of Lovelady, Texas, grew up in that town. She went to Palacios as a teacher in the schools there, met and soon was married to W. C. Gray. Let Nell and W. C. be remembered by their friends, not as they were during their last, long illnesses; but, rather, as the useful and creative citizens they were for so many years, working tirelessly for the betterment of the Community in which they lived. Let them rest now, together, in that hallowed spot among the hundreds of others who have served their God and Country, until that Glorious Day when Christ shall come for his own.--Submitted by Nell's Sister, Sue Kennedy. [Born April 10, 1885]
Palacios Beacon, September 23, 1965 |
“All the world is a stage and we the people
merely players,” Shakespeare philosophized in “As You Like It.”