Virginia "Missie" Gray

Virginia Beth Spitzer was born on February 4, 1930, in Great Falls MT to Eunice L. and Earl W. Spitzer. Her early years before starting school were spent with her grandparents and brother on a small ranch at Elk Creek near Augusta, Montana. She learned to ride horses and enjoy the mountains. She attended Great Falls Schools and graduated from high school in 1948. She then attended Great Falls college for one year.

She then began working at the Great Falls clinic in the business office. On August 5, 1950, she married George W Gray. They had a son, Kim Gray of Billings, MT, and a daughter, Janis Gray Sanders of Severance CO. She worked for the Great Falls Clinic off and on until George was transferred to Wichita Falls Texas in 1956 with General Mills. From there they transferred to El Reno, OK, and then on to Kansas City, MO. The family met a lot of new friends and saw a lot of new places. They were lucky enough to be transferred back to Montana in 1967. They purchased a place in Lincoln MT, in 1980 where they spent vacations fishing and hiking. Her favorite pastimes were reading, sewing, bowling, golfing, and spending time with family and friends.

A private family graveside service has already occurred at this time.

If I be the first of us to die,

Let grief not blacken your sky.

Be bold yet modest in your grieving.

There is a change but not a leaving.

For just as death is part of life,

The dead live on forever in the living

And all the gathered riches of our journey

The moment shared; the mysteries explored

The steady layering of intimacy explored

The things that made us laugh or weep or sing,

The joy of sunlit snow or the first unfurling of the spring.

The wordless language of look and touch,

The knowing,

Each giving and each taking

These are not flowers that fade

Nor trees that fall and crumble,

Nor are they stone,

For even stone can not the wind and rain withstand

And mighty mountain peaks in time reduce to sand.

What we were, we are

What we had, we have

A conjoined past imperishable present

So when you walk the woods where once we walked together

And scan in vain the dappled bank beside you for my shadow

Or pause where we always did upon the hill

To gaze across the land

And spotting something, reach by habit for my hand,

And finding none, feel sorrow start to steal upon you,

Be still

Close your eyes

Breathe

Listen for my footfall in your heart

I am not gone but merely walk within you.