Gaither Frierson Gray

Mrs. Ellanor Gaither Frierson Gray, long-time resident of Mt. Pleasant Pike, passed away Thursday, April 10, 2008. Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. at St. Peter's Episcopal Church with The Reverend Jess Reeves officiating. Burial will follow at St. John's Episcopal Churchyard at Ashwood. Oakes & Nichols Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements. Gaither Gray was a descendant of pioneer Maury County families who migrated from South Carolina in 1806, settled the Zion Community and founded and built Zion Presbyterian Church. She was the daughter of the late John Dawson Frierson, Sr. and Mary Minter Rainey Frierson. She was married January 16, 1943 to Daniel Roger Gray, Jr., M.D. Dr. Gray died June 4, 1990. She was a graduate of Columbia Central High School, received a B.A. in History from Vanderbilt University, and attended Vanderbilt Law School until it was closed during World War II. Mrs. Gray was an accomplished pianist, portrait artist, and rosarian. She loved flying airplanes. She was active in community affairs in earlier years holding membership in the James K. Polk Association, Columbia Garden Club, and Tenassee Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was the founding DAR sponsor for the President Jackson Society of the Children of the American Revolution in 1957 and was pleased to learn of the reorganization of the President Jackson Society that took place at the Athenaeum on March 9, 2008. She was a communicant of St. Peter's Episcopal Church and sang in the choir for many years. Mrs. Gray is survived by her four sons, Daniel Roger Gray, III and wife, Susan of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts; J. Dawson Frierson Gray, Sr. and wife, Susan of Columbia; L. Rainey Gray and wife, Christina of Franklin; and Jefferson Gaither Gray of Union Grove, Alabama; six grandchildren, Courtney Gray Haupt and husband, Jonathan of Silver Spring, Maryland; and Whitney A.W. Gray of Arlington, Virginia; Cynthia Gaither Gray and Margaret Anne Gray of Franklin; J. Dawson Frierson Gray, Jr. and Thomas Pierce Gray of Columbia; and her niece, Mary Howard Frierson Shelton of Columbia. She was preceded in death by her brothers, J. Dawson Frierson, Jr. of Columbia and Horace Rainey Frierson, M.D. of Los Angeles, California; and just recently, by her sister-in-law, Dorothy Haston Frierson, widow of J. Dawson Frierson, Jr. Pallbearers are her four sons, Daniel R. Gray, III, J. Dawson Frierson Gray, Sr., L. Rainey Gray, Jefferson G. Gray, her grandson, J. Dawson Frierson Gray, Jr., Horace Rainey, IV, and William Fleming Rainey, III. Memorials may be made to St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 311 West 7th Street, Columbia 38401; St. John's Episcopal Church at Ashwood, c/o PMB 75, 1116 West 7th Street, Columbia 38401; Zion Presbyterian Church, 2322 Zion Road, Columbia 38401; Vanderbilt University, or the Mayfield-Gray Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, 999 Sunnyside Drive, Columbia 38401.