Stanley Mitchell Gray

STANLEY MITCHELL GRAY, age 82, of Little Rock, passed away on Aug. 30, 2012. He came upon this Good Earth on Oct. 27, 1929 in Little Rock to the late Dr. Marion Haughton Gray and Marian Netherly Gray. He attended public schools, Forest Park Elementary, Pulaski Heights Junior High and graduated in 1948 from Lake Forest Academy, in Lake Forest, Ill. Stan attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he graduated in 1953 with a degree in Government with a minor in history. Stan was a proud member and held several offices in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. After college and having completed a four year course in Military Science at the U of A, he entered the USAF and graduated from the Armed Forces Information School at Fort Slocum, N.Y. He served most of a two-year tour as the Information Services Officer of the 36th Fighter-Bomber Wing stationed at Bitburg AFB, Germany on the wing staff of Col. Robert L "God is my co-pilot" Scott, during an interesting period in U.S. foreign relations. Stan returned to Little Rock in 1955 and was employed as a Marketing Trainee at Esso Standard Oil Co and worked in the N/W Arkansas Territory. He entered the advertising/publication field and was employed by an industrial ad agency in Chicago for about a year before returning to Little Rock and becoming a courier/pilot and later account executive with Ted Lamb and Assoc. He started Stanley M. Gray Advertising in 1959, with offices at 610 Rock Street in downtown Little Rock. Stan married Elizabeth Doll Daniel of Hot Springs in 1960. Stan and Betsy had great times with neighborhood friends and a close camping group "Jasper in June" that met for float trips on the Buffalo River for many years. They had four children, Mitch, Mike, Elizabeth and Martha. Stan was very involved in Holy Souls Catholic Church and served as president of the Serra Club. Having designed and maintained two residential landscapes, he purchased eight acres of State Highway 10 in 1972 and built the Good Earth Garden Center & Nurseries which he believed to be the finest Nursery/Garden Center in Central Arkansas and possibly the entire state. Stan was also the executive secretary of the Arkansas Equipment Distributers of Arkansas. He lost his oldest son Mitch in 1990 and his oldest daughter Elizabeth (Lizzy) in 1999, both to cancer. In 1992 Stan was employed, first as a pre-arrangement counselor and subsequently as the evening funeral director of visitations at Griffin Leggett Healey and Roth. In 2004, Stan moved to the Moore Building of Good Shepherd Retirement Center with the help of his good friend, Jay Jones. Through Jay's influence, Stan volunteered at Camp Aldersgate with the seniors group. Stan greatly enjoyed his fellow Good Shepherd residents and had a dear friend, Hazel Bell who he shared many fun times together. Stan is survived by his son, Mike who is married to Mary Vargas, from Manilla, Phillipines and doing well as a Real Estate agent with Crye-Leike; by his daughter, Martha who is married to John Tull III, (a Little Rock attorney) and their daughter, Ella Tull, the apple of Stan's eye; and by his granddaughters, Lindsey and Sidney Roach, of whom he was very proud. Stanley is also survived by his brother, Jim Gray of Little Rock. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012 at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church in Little Rock, officiated by Rev. Erik Pohlmeier, burial with Military Honors will follow in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be Tuesday, Sept. 4 from 6-8 p.m in the Chapel of Little Rock Funeral Home, 8801 Knoedl Ct, Little Rock, Ark. 72205. The family would like to express their appreciation for the doctors, nurses and staff of the VA Hospital and for their loving care of Stan in his final days. In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to the Palliative Care Unit at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, 4300 West 7th St., Little Rock 72205. Arrangements by Little Rock Funeral Home, (501)224-2200. Mr. Gray's online guestbook may be signed at www.littlerockfuneralhome.com.