Today's Featured Biography

 
Mary Doughtie Gray

After graduation in 1959, I attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville for the fall and spring semesters. During high school, I had worked at Henke & Pilot, so at the close of the spring semester of college, I was re-hired and became a bakery manager.
I was a "home body" and didn't care to be gone that far from home again so I applied for a job with Shell Oil Company and worked there for about a year and a half. During this time, beginning in about May of 1961, my brother had a friend (Joe Gray) who frequently visited our home and we started dating. Joe was from Florida and had come to Pasadena for employment, living with a sister and brother-in-law. Joe and I were married shortly after hurricane Carla (1961), November 17, 1961 and lived in Houston where he was employed by General Foods, Maxwell House Division. We continued living in Houston for awhile but then bought a house in Pasadena. Our son, Kevin, was born August 22, 1962 in Pasadena. I had terminated my employment with Shell Oil before the birth of Kevin and was fortunate not to have to work at this time. Joe was very industrious, always having some extra job besides his full-time one. At the time of his illness and death, he owned and ran a Texaco service station on the corner of Pasadena Blvd. and Center St. in Deer Park. We were active members of Golden Acres Baptist Church and I worked part-time as a clerk in the office there. Wanting to purchase a piece of land to build a nicer home on, I applied for a job at Sears there in Pasadena and went to work in the Finance Office. We bought an acre south of Spencer Highway in a newly developed area. Our street ended at San Jacinto Jr. College. Shortly after moving into the new house we had build, our daughter, Nancy, was born and we were one happy little family.

Joe had relatives in Georgia so we made a trip there to spend Thanksgiving when Nancy was almost two years old. During the trip,
Joe was not feeling well and this continued even after we had gotten back home. Following a couple of visits to the doctor, he was hospitalized for a checkup. He was found to have a lung tumor. Surgery was scheduled for the 29th of January, 1966. We had just found out we were looking for another addition to our family. The news we received following Joe's surgery was devastating. There was nothing the doctors could do. The tumor was more invasive than they thought so they could do nothing. Our little daughter, Terri, was expected the latter part of July. The doctors told us Joe may live six months. He lived two days short of one month, passing away on February 27th. Kevin was six years old, Nancy had just had her second birthday in December and was very much a "Daddy's girl". Terri was born July 25th. With the help of my parents, friends and especially God, we have lived a good life. There have been tough times, but that's life. Of course the kids missed not having a Dad and little Terri regrets she never saw him but they have made good lives for their families.

When my Dad retired from Shell Oil Co. in Deer Park, he and Mom decided to move back to the country where they were raised and I decided that would be a good place to raise my kids, so in July, 1972, we spent our first night in the country. Dad had built a garage a few years before on their property to that's where the kids and I lived while our houses were being built. We loved it. A big pond to fish in, pet chickens, dogs, cats. We had an outhouse and a tub outside to bathe in. Baths had to be gotten before dark because of the snakes and wolves. Dad had made the garage comfortable by putting down a linoleum on the floor, bringing my refrigerator, washer, dryer, sewing machine, t.v., all that was needed, we had. Cots were folded during the day and hung on the wall. We stayed cool with a large pedestal fan my Dad had gotten. When winter came along, it was a little different. The little electric heaters were barely enough to keep us warm. Our houses were finished and we moved in January, 1973.

During the early part of 1977 I met and married a young man who had grown up in the community, our parents knowing each other all of their lives. My children were thrilled to finally have a Dad. He worked for the prison system in Huntsville. In April the following year, we welcomed another daughter, Amy, into our family. Unfortunately this marriage was not to last.

In early 1980, I became employed by the prison system as a typist. In 1981, my parents were instrumental in the beginning of Westway Baptist Church in our community, and the pastor of Second Baptist Church in Huntsville (which sponsored Westway)wanted me to come to work at Second Baptist as his secretary. I had been working for the prison for about a year and a half. I finally gave in because it was the kind of work I enjoyed. With the beginning of our Church, Westway, I became it's secretary also and continue to keep these records to this day. I worked as secretary at Second Baptist Church for seven and a half years.
Realizing the Church offered no retirement or insurance and not paying into the Social Security system, my age was telling me I needed to make some changes.

I went back to TDCJ (prison system) in 1988, retired in 2007 with twenty years service, now, I've been back there for almost two years. I worked in Records area most of this time but have been a correctional officer for three of those years.

From my four children I have 11 grandchildren. My oldest grandson and his wife just graduated from Sam Houston University in May. Two other granddaughters are in college and one a senior in High School, going into nursing.

My youngest daughter has four sons, one of which had a severe asthma attack fifteen months ago, his heart stopped and he suffered brain damage. He's been bedridden ever since. He turned twelve in June.

My Mother will be 91 years old in two weeks; my Dad passed away twelve years ago, my brother six years ago. It's just Mom and me, now. We both still live in our own homes but I am her only caregiver. I am kept quite busy with trying to keep up everything but I have been blessed greatly. While Mom has a lot of memory problems, her health is basically good otherwise.

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