Dr. George Hastings Gray

Saks – Funeral services for Mr. (Col) (Ret) George H. Gray, 86, will be Saturday, July 14, 2018 at 2 p.m. at Saks United Methodist Church with Rev. Bob Owens officiating, with burial to follow at Anniston Memorial Gardens. Family will receive friends from 12 until service time on Saturday at the church.

Mr. Gray passed away on July 6, 2018 from complications with pneumonia.

Mr. Gray is survived by his sons, Larry and David Gray.

Mr. Gray is proceeded in death by his wife of 60 years, L. June Cox Gray.

George was born in Boomer, VA in 1932 and grew up in the Oak Hill region of West Virginia. He joined the Army at 17 to escape the coal fields, and after 3 ½ years he left the army to finish high school, attend college on the GI bill, start a family and enroll in seminary. After graduating from the Wesley School of Theological Seminary he returned to the army as a Chaplain and served with distinction for 30 years. Just some of his awards/decorations are Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Army Occupational Medal (Europe), Vietnamese Campaign Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Korea) among others.

After retiring from the Army he served as the pastor to several civilian churches. The churches he served from his days as a student pastor until his retirement as a fully ordained minister are Vandalia Methodist Church, So. Charleston, WV; Smithsburg Methodist Church, Smithburg, MD; Franklin UMC, Wellsburg, WV; Bemiston UMC, Talladega, Al; First UMC of Saks, Anniston, AL; and Craig UMC, Eastaboga, Al.

After contracting Parkinson’s disease, he retired from the ministry but remained an active member of First UMC of Saks and served on the Board of Directors on the Anniston Branch of MOAA.