The Gray Family
Robert
Lee Gray was born in Red River County, TX. he married Magnolia (Nolia)
Alzenia Floyd who was born in Sevierville TN and came with her parents,
Richard Robertson and Jane B. (Jenny) McDaniel Floyd, to Clarksville, Red
River Co. Texas when she was 9. Bob was the son of Wm Henderson and Mary
Frances Reed Gray from Red River, Gregg, Harrison, Denton and Garza TX
counties. Billy Gray was born in Mississippi and Fanny Reed was born in
Georgia. Bob and Nolia Gray; married in Clarksville, TX and had 5 children
Eunice Leola (Wm Pearlie Smith), Marvin Odell who was an invalid and died at
age 16 in Denton County TX and is buried in the Bolivar TX cemetery with his
parents Bob and Nolia. Owen who died at about 16 months from a fever caused
by teething and is buried in Red River Co. TX, Ruby Lee Gray (Fred L.
Arnold) and Velma Fay Gray (Virgil P. Carter). Bob and Nolia moved
from Clarksville to Denton, TX and then to Bolivar (Denton Co.) TX where
they lived on Dr. Knox’s place. While living in Bolívar their son, Owen,
died from complications of a fall as a toddler that had left him an invalid.
From Bolivar, Bob, Nolia, Ruby and Velma; moved to New Lynn TX where Bob
worked on the Double U and they lived in a small house on the Double U.
Their oldest daughter, Eunice had married Pearlie Smith and resided in Krum
(Denton Co.) TX with their two daughters Robbie and Melba Smith. On January
1, 1937 Nolia suffered a stroke on the porch of their home and fell into the
yard. Ruby, their fourth child, heard her mother fall and ran to help her.
Her condition was grave and Bob sent a telegram to his daughter, Eunice, in
Krum telling her was sending someone to pick them up and bring them to New
Lynn. They , as most during that time, did not have a telephone nor a
car. Before they could reach New Lynn, Nolia had died. She always loved
Bolivar and Bob decided to bury her there. His son-in-law, Wm Pearlie Smith,
rode back to Bolivar with her body and the train. The rest of the family
followed in two cars. My mother, Robbie Smith Kelly, said on the way back to
Bolivar, it was raining and they had a wreck, the two cars ran into each
other. She said an old farmer and his wife let them stay in their house
until the cars could be repaired and they could be on their way. She said it
was dark in their house and she was only 10 years old and she was scared.
In an attached picture cropped from the original photo of the funeral of
Nolia Gray, is Pearlie and Eunice Gray Smith with Robbie and Melba, Virgil
and Velma Gray Carter with Richard and Ruby Gray who had not yet married
Fred Arnold. After the death of her mother, Eunice and Pearlie
packed up their belongings and moved from Krum to New Lynn to help her
father make a crop. They stay one year and moved back to Krum, with $100.00,
their share of the crop. They again packed up their belongs in an old
pickup and headed home, camping out along the way. It took
several days to reach their home in Krum, and Mama said her mother cooked on
a campfire and they slept on the ground. She said they bought a radio with
part of their money. Bob married again soon after the death of his
wife to a woman Mama said they called Lee Fay but she doesn’t know her last
name. Robert Lee Gray died October 19, 1939 in the Lubbock hospital from
kidney cancer and is buried in the Bolivar Texas cemetery with his wife and
son. Bob’s father, Wm Henderson Gray lived Post, Garza Co., Tx where
several of his children had move to from Clarksville and Denton counties. He
died in Post on September 21st 1933 and is buried in Longview, TX, La Grone
Chapel cemetery with his wife Mary Frances Reed Gray who preceded him in
death on August 15, 1927. Children of Wm Henderson and Fanny Gray are
Minnie Emma Mae (Ike Killingsworth) Longview TX John Patterson (Maude Mable
Burg) Krum, TX Oscar Gray (Melinda (Linnie) Elder) Clarksville, TX Robert
Lee Gray (Magnolia Alzenia Floyd) Clarksville, Denton, Lynn TX Helen
Elizabeth (Cullie Andrew Richards) Longview, Post, Tahoka TX James
Charlton (Buddie) (Minnie Miller) Longview TX Vara Etta (Frederick Payne
Cockerill) Clarksville, Post, TX Cora Alice (Thomas Anderson Stone)
Clarksville, Tahoka TX Willie Jewell (Lacey J Richardson) Clarksville, Post
TX This information is from family history, stories from my mother
Robbie Smith Kelly, aunt Ruby Gray Arnold and cousins Charlotte Young Stice
and Judith Gray Ellsworth.
Submitted by Carolyn Lauderdale
Family
Photos and Obits Furnished by Carolyn Lauderdale
Eunice Leola Smith Obituary |
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Obit Wm H. Gray |
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Obit for Nolia Alzena Gray |
Eunice, Velma and Ruby |
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Wm. Henderson and Mary Francis (Fanny) Reed Gray |
Obit Wm H. Gray |
