Kalas Funeral Home & Crematory

Verna K. Gray fell asleep in death on Sunday, October 22, 2017, at Rose’s Place Assisted Living Facility after a prolonged illness.  She was a faithful wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, friend and mentor and will be dearly missed by all who knew her.  Most importantly, she died a faithful servant of Jehovah God, the God of all comfort, who longs to put a complete end to all suffering and death and bring her and countless others back to life by means of the resurrection. 

Verna, born on May 29, 1926 in Hanover County, Virginia, was the third daughter of the late Charles Henry King and Martha Bradby King.  She spent her early years in Hanover County with her three brothers and two older sisters helping their father as he farmed their land raising vegetables and other produce for the market.  She was known to remark that her father raised them all to work equally on the farm.  She and her sisters were not fond of gathering corn stalks, used to feed the livestock, because in the Fall they housed bees and wasps which often stung them.  Though it was hard work, she and her siblings cherished their time working alongside their father as he cultivated the land which no doubt contributed to her lifelong love for gardening and landscaping, especially flowers. 

As a young lady she met and married her husband of 71 years, Junius W. Gray, Jr of King William County, Virginia, who lovingly relays stories of her willingness to “do whatever it took”, even assisting him with putting roof shingles on the home they built together from the foundation up.  Or, during a camping trip in Florida, driving without hesitation a 25-foot camper hitched onto the back of their pickup back to Washington, DC, so he could drive another vehicle that he had run across and wanted to purchase.  From this union came two sons, Charles W. Gray and W. Francell Gray, and one daughter, Rita Gray Archer.  Like her mother, Verna relished a good laugh and was known for her clever sense of humor.  She was an avid reader who had an innate curiosity for knowledge of all types.  It was this passion for learning that lead her as a young child to line up her dolls and pretend to teach them.  She enjoyed travel, camping and exploration which she did many times over the years with her family.  Even to this day, her husband expresses his gratitude for all the things she taught and exposed him to, and as a result, he often says that he has “enjoyed the ride and has absolutely no regrets”.

Her mother, also a teacher, inspired her to continue her education and to enter the teaching profession. Her love for education pushed her to excel until she obtained her doctoral degree from the University of Maryland in 1972.  She retired from teaching as a professor at Howard University.  Though she thoroughly enjoyed and spent many years in academia, it was her spiritual education, preaching and teaching that would later bring her even greater joy.

In the early 1980s, she met Brother Yasil Vassal who had started a Bible study with her son Francell.  Though Jehovah’s Witnesses had called at her door many times before, she regarded them with polite skepticism.  Thinking her son had made a huge mistake studying with the Witnesses, at her son’s suggestion, she agreed to meet Brother Vassal to set him straight, since she had taught the Bible as a book of literature at the university level in one of her humanities classes.  She later remarked that after 15 minutes of talking with him, she really knew very little about the Bible.  From that encounter a lasting relationship was born and she agreed to a Bible study.  She pursued her Bible study with the same enthusiasm she had her secular education and she was later baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses on July 23, 1987.  She could now begin to put her love for teaching to even greater use as she regularly participated in the door to door ministry Jehovah’s Witnesses are known for; and in starting and conducting Bible studies, her new passion, with the Shepherd Park Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses near her home in northwest Washington D.C.  Later, she and her family moved to Fort Washington, Maryland where she began attending the West Fort Washington Congregation.  Over the years, she loved attending and participating in the meetings, as well as circuit assemblies and conventions, not to mention the warm association of her Christian brothers and sisters in her West Fort Washington congregation.

She is survived by her loving and devoted husband of 71 years, Junius W. Gray, Jr; son, W. Francell Gray; daughter, Rita Gray Archer, daughter-in-law, Rosalind M. Gray, grandchildren: Tracy Gray Tyler (Danny), Philip W. Gray (Andrea), Erika Archer, Lauren Archer, Laura Green (Quinton); and great grandchildren Aaron and Madison Hall and Dakota Franks. She was preceded in death by her mother, Martha B. King; father, Charles H. King; sisters Edith K. Branch and Alma K. Winston; brothers; Welford S. King Sr., Charles Ashton King, and Irving M. King; and son, Charles W. Gray.

Relatives and friends are invited to Dr. Gray's Life Celebration on Monday, October 30, 2017 from 11 a.m. until time of service at 12 noon at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 16303 Livingston Rd., Accokeek, MD 20607. Interment private at a later date. 

Dr. Verna King Gray

Dr. Verna King Gray

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