Marion Ruth Gray

MARION R. GRAY

October 7, 1929 – April 8, 2018

MARION RUTH GRAY, 88, of Spring Valley, California, died Sunday, April 8, 2018, following a short battle with cancer. She was born October 7, 1929 in Pasadena, California to Gaylord and Grace (Gibbel) Widney. As a young girl she received Jesus as her Savior.

Marion was a piano prodigy from the age of four. She would hear songs on the radio and hymns at church and go home and play them. When she was 7 or 8 years old she started playing for Sunday School on a pump organ. Marion was a church organist and pianist all her life. She also helped in children’s ministries and wrote and directed Christmas plays.

Marion was an entrepreneur, starting Marion’s Childcare in 1983 to meet the growing need for childcare of business men and women and tourists at San Diego hotels, as well as to provide for her family. She worked hard at the startup of this new business by working at the hotels herself every night, all while continuing to work a full time job and host foreign exchange students, until she was finally able to hire additional caregivers to her team. Marion’s Childcare has become the #1 childcare business in San Diego. During the 1990s, Comedian Jerry Lewis secured Marion to be the private nanny for his daughter Dani. She was able to travel the world with the family while caring for Dani. Jerry affectionately called her “Ma-mah-mums.” Marion retired in 2005 and sold her business to her daughter-in-law who continues to run it with the same integrity and excellence it was built on.

Marion raised her four children enduring some difficult circumstances, but never wavered from her faith and trust in her Lord and Savior. She taught them Christian principles throughout their lives. She was a prayer warrior, a servant, a student of the Bible, a Bible teacher, a piano teacher and an encourager. Always funny and energetic, Marion dressed up like Santa Claus to read a “jingle” she wrote and deliver gag gifts. She loved to mimic people on TV and tell stories. Her greatest joys in her life were her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She has a left a beautiful and enduring legacy of love, life and laughter to her family and will be greatly missed by all until we meet again “in the morning.”

Marion is survived by her children, Mike (Jeanne) Gray of Santee, CA; Carrie (Joe) Cormier of Ramona, CA; Jeff (Debbie) Gray of San Diego, CA; and Rod (Amy) Gray of Spring Valley, CA. She is also survived by her sister, Betty Coonrad, and her brothers, Brent, Richard and Don Widney. Marion has 11 grandchildren (Alisha Bray, Heidi Rot, Andy Gray, Ben Gray, Courtney Hale, Kristen Cormier, Hannah Kerbey, Daniel Gray, Tim Gray, Elisabeth Gray & Steven Gray) and 10 great grandchildren (Zachary, Mackenzie, & Ryan Rot; Tony, Aiden & Alyssa Gray; Levi & Eden Gray; Dominik Bray; and Graham Kerbey). Marion was preceded in death by her husband, Roland T. Gray, and her parents, Gaylord and Grace Widney.