George Manley Gray -- Machinist

 

George Manley Gray

George Manley Gray was born on January 24, 1924 in the Mount Pleasant community of Trigg County, Kentucky. He was the second of five children born to Andrew Abner Gray and Lola Jo Bridges Gray.  Andrew was a farmer and both he and Lola Jo were natives of Trigg County.  George was a descendant of Starkie Bridges.

George’s siblings were Homer Mason Gray, born in 1922 and died at the age of one; Stella Mae Gray, born in 1925 and married Maurice Alton Thomas; John Marshall Gray, born in 1932 and married Virginia Nell Braboy; and Lola Jewell Gray, born in 1943 and married Robert Arrice Prescott.

George attended the Trigg County schools and on March 28, 1945, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in Louisville, Kentucky.  He was sent to boot camp at the Sampson U.S. Naval Training Station in Romulus, New York.  After his boot camp training he rode a troop train across the country to Oakland, California.  He then rode a troop ship under the Golden Gate Bridge headed west to the Philippine Islands.  He was in the Philippines when World War II ended. He went on to serve in Shanghai, China.  In May 1946, he boarded another troop ship.  This ship was headed east and again sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge on its way to the naval base in San Francisco.  George was honorably discharged from the navy as a Seaman First Class on June 6, 1946. 

On July 6, 1951, George married Marilyn Miller Clark in Hopkinsville, Kentucky with the marriage ceremony conducted by Rev. J. H. Maddox.  Marilyn was born on January 27, 1931, the daughter of Henry Frank Clark and Lula Celona Miller Clark.  Frank was a farmer and both he and Lula were natives of Trigg County.  Marilyn was a graduate of Hopkinsville High School and attended Murray State University.

After George and Marilyn were married, they moved to Detroit, Michigan and in  1952 they moved to the suburb community of Warren, Michigan. While living in Michigan, George worked as a machinist in several machine shops.  In 1967, they returned to Trigg County and purchased property on the Malone Road where they built their home.  After returning to Kentucky, George worked for Central Tool and Die in Hopkinsville, Viking Engineering in Trigg County and Kentucky Machine and Engineering in Cadiz. Marilyn went to work as a substitute teacher in Trigg County.  She then went back to Murray State and received her B. S. degree in vocational home economics in 1982.  She then went to work as a home economics teacher in the Rehabilitation Program at Western Kentucky Hospital in Hopkinsville.  

George and Marilyn were the parents of two children, Deborah Denise Gray, born in 1953 and married William Homer Stobaugh, Jr. and David Clark Gray, born in 1963 and married Patricia Chalea.

Marilyn died on March 15, 2005 at the age of 74 at Trigg County Hospital in Cadiz.  She was buried in the Miller Cemetery in Trigg County.  George died three months later on June 4, 2005 at the age of 81 at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.  He was buried in the Miller Cemetery next to his wife.

George and Marilyn tombstone

George military tombstone

LINEAGE: (George Manley Gray was the son of Andrew Abner and Lola Jo Bridges Gray.  Lola Jo was the first child of Drew Manley and Lena Mae Guier Bridges.  Drew was the seventh child of Starkie T. and Elizabeth W. Lawrence Bridges.  Starkie was the second child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)