GRAY, Mary Frances Dawson of Wellesley, Hingham and Canton, MA died on May 21, 2019 at age 93. Beloved wife of the late Dr. Edward B. Gray, to whom she was married for 57 years. Mary Fran is survived by her son Stephen Gray and daughter-in-law Louise of Canterbury, NH; her daughters Catherine Gray of Newton, MA, Carol Gray and son-in-law Fred Hollister, also of Newton; grandchildren Denyse Walker, Brian and Steven Gray, Elizabeth “Zeba” McGibbon, Emma Race, Lucy and Sam Hollister; great-grandchildren, Avery and Keaton Walker, Riley Sage Gray; and sisters Rose and Catherine Dawson. She was predeceased by her sisters Jean Gallagher and Elizabeth Dawson.
A member of the “greatest generation,” Mary Fran graduated from high school on “D Day” and was recruited by the Navy to work as a chemist in the Philadelphia Naval Yard throughout World War II. After graduating from college, she worked in Germany for a UN program resettling refugees displaced by the war. She met and married her husband, the young Dr. Gray, in Germany. Returning to the States to raise a family––a job which she considered to be her most important––she also worked with the Visiting Nurses for over 25 years, out of a commitment to equitable health care for all. A lifelong progressive Democrat, Mary Fran had an abiding passion for politics, social justice, interfaith dialogue and history, publishing a family history which included her family’s involvement with the Oglala Lakota in South Dakota.
Visiting hours at the George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 477 Washington St.,(Rt.16) WELLESLEY, Sunday, June 2 from 4–7 PM. Funeral Mass in St. John the Evangelist Church, 9 Glen Rd., Wellesley Hills, Monday, June 3 at 9:30 AM. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Interment to follow at Newton Cemetery, Newton.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the Red Cloud Indian School, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, SD, https://www.redcloudschool.org/give or Care Dimensions Hospice House, Lincoln, MA https://www.caredimensions.org/giving/ways-to-give/