Mary Gray

MARY LENA GRAY

Center Junction

Mary Lena Gray, 99, surrounded by family and friends, died peacefully and went home to be with her Lord on Feb. 11, 2016, at the Lutheran Home in Davenport.

She was born Sept. 19, 1916, the oldest child of Adolph Eggers and Lena Schoon Eggers, in Amber, Iowa. As a youth, she attended Wayne Zion Lutheran Church near Monticello and grew up in Amber, the oldest of five siblings. She met a handsome young man from Anamosa, John Gray, and married him on June 22, 1937. For nearly 70 years, they lived in Center Junction, where they raised their four children.

In later years, John and Mary travelled to Donna, Texas, to vacation during the winter months where they established new friendships and thoroughly enjoyed the game of shuffleboard with other residents.

Though a rather solitary person, Mary loved her family deeply and was always ready to help out when she could.

During her lifetime, Mary was very involved in organizing and cooking for community events. She and her husband, John, also were active members in their church, Center Junction Presbyterian, where she taught Sunday school and Vacation Bible School and was treasurer of United Presbyterian Women for over 40 years.

Mary, a lifelong gardener, even into her later years enjoyed starting plants from seed and watching them grow into seedlings ready for the garden. She maintained for years two large vegetable gardens that provided food for her and her family. Endless hours were spent canning and freezing vegetables used in cooking delicious meals for the coming winter months. Her scrumptious homemade breads and pies were well known; her loaves of bread brought considerable and much-needed funds at church harvest auctions.

Mary also loved her cars, which she cleaned and waxed on a regular basis. She even tried her hand at minor bodywork quite successfully on one of the family cars. Reading novels, especially Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour Westerns, also was a favorite pastime.

Mary was preceded in death by her parents; her beloved husband, John, of 67 years; her daughter, Barbara Reid; and her siblings, twin sisters Irene Alyea and Lorene Vacek;, and brothers, Louis Eggers and Harold Eggers.

Survivors include her children: Jack and wife Linda (Frank), Linda Sonner and husband Ron and Donna Leiting and husband Tom; grandchildren, Bruce Gray and wife Brooke, Ryan Gray and wife Dina, Teresa Alexander and husband Will, Jason Reid and wife Cindy, John Sonner, David Sonner and wife Chrisy, Laura White and husband Zach and Katie Schouten and husband Will; great-grandchildren, Amelia Gray, Samantha and Gabriel Alexander, Ethan and Elizabeth Mary Gray, Evan Reid, Grayson Ferdinand and Luke Schouten.

In addition to family, Mary left behind friends that she had made in her years as a resident at Grand Haven Retirement Center in Eldridge and her final years at the Lutheran Home in Davenport.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, at Goettsch Funeral Home in Monticello, with interment in North Madison Pioneer Cemetery. Pastor Pat Halverson will officiate at the services. Friends may call from 4 until 7 p.m. Monday at Goettsch Funeral Home.

Thoughts, memories and condolences may be left at www.goettschonline.com.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Shriners Children's Hospital.