Mrs. Ann D. Ray

Ann Darrah Ray, 86, died December 13, 2011, after a brief illness. She was a long time resident of Atlanta, a lifelong Episcopalian and a devoted wife, mother and friend. Ann was born on September 21, 1925, in Meridian MS and treasured her roots in the Deep South. She had a deep appreciation for the value of family and was the source of rich, colorful stories of family history in Alabama and Mississippi.

Funeral services will be held at 11 am Saturday, December 17th, at All Saints Episcopal Church, 634 West Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta 30308, with a reception to follow in the church library.

Ann had a sharp wit and was a passionate Democrat. She loved to read, often completing several books a week, and set the New York Times as her homepage. She avidly followed current affairs and normally was the first to hear of breaking news. She had a strong affinity for France, having studied French for many years at the Alliance Francaise, and traveled to Paris more than 30 times, with her late husband James Thomas Ray, and alone or with her daughter Ann Ray McNair after his death in 1996.

She was a member of All Saints Episcopal Church since 1961 and was a longtime member and past chairwoman of the St. Andrew Chapter. She was a devoted member of the Every Saturday Club and derived great pleasure from writing and sharing scholarly papers with the other members of the 100+ year-old organization. She also was a member of the Gardeners Club, the Legacy Ladies and the National Society of Colonial Dames of America and she was an active supporter of the Manuscripts, Archive and Rare Books Library at Emory University. She had lived at Canterbury Court since 2005, where she had many close friends.

Ann spent her elementary and high school years in Mobile, Alabama, and graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in English. After college, she moved to New Orleans where she shared an apartment with close friend Martha (Ellis) Leake and spent many evenings and weekends with her late aunt and uncle Annie and Pat Paterson. It was through her family connection that she met her future husband, a Ph.D. candidate at Tulane University, and they remained in New Orleans through his graduation and the birth of their older daughter Jane Ray Kell, now of Atlanta.

In addition to her two daughters, Ann is survived by her sister Jane Darrah Claflin of Boston, MA, sons-in-law Kevin Kell of Atlanta and Gregory McNair of Nashville, TN, grandchildren Hunter and Caroline McNair of Nashville, TN, to whom she was devoted, nieces and nephews Thomas and Rachel Claflin of Boston, MA, and Robert and Kyri Claflin of Hopkinton, NH, sister-in-law Betty Danielson of Plantation, FL, and her children and many cousins and close friends in Atlanta, Louisiana and Texas. The family wishes to give special thanks to caregivers Lucy Bailey, Jessie Small, LaTanya Ballock and Jeanell Bethley, who enabled her to remain independent through the last months of her life.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made in Ann’s memory to All Saints Episcopal Church or to the Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library (MARBL) at Emory University, 540 Asbury Circle, Atlanta 30322, c/o Christeene Fraser.