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Mark Allen Gray, 19, of 211
LaGrange St. Pulaski, died early
Sunday morning from injuries
received In an automobile accident on
Rt. 11.
Born January 10, I960, in Radford,
he was an employee of the. Pulaski
Furniture Corporation.
Surviving are his parents, Houston
and Susan Gray, Pulaski;
one sister Suzanne Atkins, Port- ,
smouth; one brother Michael Alden
Gray, Pulaski; paternal grandmother
Lou Gray of Marlon; and maternal
grandmother, Dove Hedge Cox,
Pulaski.
The funeral will be held at 1 p.m.
Tuesday from Stevens Funeral
Chapel with the Rev. Howard Hanklns
and Rev. Johnny Howlett officiating.
Burial will follow in the Oakwood
cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family
requests memorial gifts to be given to
the basketball program at Pulaski
County High School.
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Larry Bralley
I heard about it next day...the terrible auto accident in which four perished and a fifth survived. It happened near Gus's Market (Cougar Express). The following passed on that night. (If my memory is right)Bobby Estep '77
Kenny Hall '77
Lane Hancock '77
Mark Gray '78 one of us
Surviving
Johnny "Bozo" or "Bo" Bratton '79... Recently passed in
July of '08
These were all really good guys. Lane and I ran around cruisin' and such. The only one I knew personally was Lane. I still feel hurt when I see Lane's brother. They were more than brothers...they were friends. I also feel guilt and shame that it wasn't me. I don't deserve any better. Must be the way a soldier feels when all of his comrades are gone and he alone survives. He dies inside. He is but a shell...Larry Bralley
Terry Meade
My mother and Mark’s mother, Sue, have been friends for years. They got to know one another when they worked together at Jefferson Mills some 50 years ago. That friendship is still strong today. Mom took Sue to her first doctor’s appointment when she found out that she was pregnant with Mark. I think Mom took her to the rest of her appointments and also bought Sue and Mark home from the hospital after he was born. Shortly after Sue got pregnant with Mark my mother became pregnant with me. My mother always blamed Sue for that, she said Sue jinxed her. A few years later Sue got pregnant again and had Dirky. True to form my mother also became pregnant with my younger brother, Keith.Susan Henley (Paris)
The afternoon that we graduated in 1978 I had the privilage of sitting next to Mark. We had a memorium for Brad Farmer with some sort of presentation to his family. Mark poked me in the ribs and said...Gosh I sure dont want to die like that. Then I was away in College and got the news that Mark had in fact passed away the same as Brad had a few years back. I felt soo bad and still to the day can hear him whispering that to me.Mike Coalson
I got to know Mark mostly from playing on basketball teams with him for three years. He was never the most gifted athlete on any of those teams, but he was always one of the smartest and best players. I didn't really realize it then but he was one of the people that I respected the most in high school. And that was because he was a better person than he was a basketball player.Mark really made the most out of the time that he had. I know he always seemed to be enjoying himself whenever I saw him. And he always had a joke to lighten the mood when you needed it. I think he squeezed more living into just 19 years than some people do in 60 or 70. I just wish we had been given more time with him.
Larry Bralley
My aunt who was widowed in Feb '68, used to keep Mark and Dirky for Sue Gray either while she worked or slept or both. They lived on South Washington around the back and up over a garage/gas station (Gulf I think)in an apt. They had an older sister who wasn't around a whole lot. I think her name was Suzie or Susie also...like her mom. My aunt never did have a driver's lic. so we would always pick her up and such. Dirky seemed to be about 3 or 4 because he was always in his underwear. Mark was usually shooting basketball somewhere. They really liked my Aunt Nora. She thought very much of them ,too.Alice Walsh (Taylor)
OK guys, I have to jump in!! Mark and I had a pack!! If were weren't married by the time we were 25 we were to marry each other!! Of course, this was all in fun. But when I saw the Movie My Best Friends Wedding, I cracked up. Kenny, Mark, Lane (Lane the Lover we used to call hiM)and Bobby were something else. Bozo was a jewel and probably suffered the most with dealing with the memory (my opinion). I can't believe he just passed away! Between the ages of 16 and 19 - I had lost 8 friends, my mother and both grandparents. I think that was the hardest time in my life. I still go by Kenny's grave site on occasion and always wonder what they all would be like and what they would be doing if they were with us today. I chuckle each time as I still see all those smiles on their faces! What a loss!! Anyway, it is incrediable the impact they had on so many of us!! AliceCraig Lester
Thinking about Mark today. We spent may day under the thumb of coach Wiley. He was the power forward on the team. He was tough and gutsy.A good player and person. Hard to believe what happened to him.
Those were the good ole days.
Craig Lester
Thinking of high school today and of Mark. I miss those years.