John Howard Gray
John Howard Gray, age 78, of 89 Parkwood Drive, Shelby, died late monday evening in Peoples Hospital in Mansfield. He was born December 6, 1917 in Shelby the son of Ralph Augustus and Pearl E. (Vickroy) Gray.
Mr. Gray retired in 1978 from the Mansfield News Journal after 43 years as a reporter. During that time, he was also a correspondent for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Columbus Dispatch, Toledo Blade, Sandusky Register, and the Norwalk Reflector-Herald. He was a 1935 graduate of Shelby High School and had attended Mansfield Business Institute.
He was a member of the Trinity United Methodist Church in Shelby, and the Good Fellowship Sunday School Class at church; Grow and Learn Garden Club; Richland County Agricultural Society; and was a volunteer at Kingwood Center. He served various offices in the Richland County Plus 25 and Ohio Christian Endeavor. He was a former member of the Knights of Pythias and the Shelby Conservation League.
Mr. Gray served four years as Ward #2 councilman for the city of Shelby. He was also instrumental in securing lighting for the Waterworks Baseball Field and having the old Shelby reservoir stocked with fish. After WWII, he was chairman of a campaign to plant memorial trees at Veterans Park in Shelby. He loved fishing, camping and sports.
He is survived by his wife, Hazel L. (Price) Gray , whom he married on December 28, 1944; a daughter and son-in-law, Diane and Mark Cadwallader of West Salem, Ohio; 3 granddaughters; 4 great granddaughters; 1 great grandson; 1 sister, Florence Hanrahan of Mansfield; 4 nieces and 1 nephew; several great nieces and nephews; and several great great nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents and by a brother-in-law, Jack Hanrahan.
Calling hours will be on Wednesday from 3-5 and 7-9 P.M. at the Turner Funeral Home in Shelby. Funeral services will be on Thursday at 2:00 P.M. at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Shelby, with his pastor Rev. J. Malcolm Brook, officiating. Burial will be in Oakland Cemetery in Shelby.