Mrs. Willie Mae Gray was born on October 11, 1927 to Coneata Byers and Jim Penn. As a lifetime Winston-Salem resident, Mrs. Gray attended 14th Street Elementary, Atkins High School and Winston-Salem State University. She went on to become an educator, working in the WS school system at both Brown Elementary and North Elementary.
Mrs. Gray was well known and extremely loved by all who knew her. As an active member of the social group "Singles & Friends", a committee member of "Atkins Class Reunion" and as a member of New Bethel Baptist Church, she made friends and "adopted" new family members everywhere she went.
Preceding her in death were her husband, "Joe"; four brothers, Harold, Orpheus, Julius and Arnold; and grandson, Cory.
Mrs. Gray is survived by her two children, Turquoise and June; seven grandchildren, Cheo, Julius, Jazmin, Jamia, JB, Jake and Makenzie; three great grandchildren, Cory, Jalen and London; and a host of cousins, nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at 1pm Saturday, May 8, 2010 at New Bethel Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. Interment will follow at Piedmont Memorial Gardens Cemetery also in Winston-Salem. The family visitation will be held from 12 noon until 1pm at the church.
The family asks that any floral arrangements be sent directly to Russell Funeral Home, 822 Carl Russell Ave. W-S, NC 27101.