Robert Gray Sr.

June 8, 1930 - March 2, 2026

Robert “Bob” Gray was born on June 8, 1930 in LaCenter, Kentucky. He grew up on a farm, and his family owned several commercial buildings and operated a regional trucking company that delivered cattle to St. Louis and transported other goods and services throughout the region.

After the death of his father, Horace Gray, Bob took over the family business at just 13 years of age. Working alongside his brother, Horace Jr., he supported his widowed mother, Ruby Strickland Gray.

At 17, he left the farm to join the United States Army Air Corp, distinguishing himself as one of the youngest air traffic controllers in the nation that was licensed to handle military and commercial aircraft. During his service, he was assigned to Operation Sandstone in the Pacific and observed the second atomic detonation at Bikini Atoll.

He went on to serve as air traffic controller at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana where he met Margaret Griffith. After a whirlwind courtship of just six weeks, they married in Texarkana.

Bob was reprimanded by his commander for failing to seek permission to marry, but he bore the decision proudly and without regret. They had two sons, Robert Gray II, and Ronald Edward Gray.

The family moved to Albuquerque, where Bob worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in nuclear weapons development. He is credited with formulating two equations used in the development of the hydrogen bomb.

The family returned to Shreveport where Bob worked first in construction and then as treasurer and comptroller of Barnwell Oil Company. He oversaw drilling that pushed outward to the Gulf and beyond, to Kuwait and the North Sea.

He retired at age thirty-five and pursued private investments in petroleum, stocks, bonds, real estate, and timberland.

He developed rural residential properties in the Blanchard area. He owned approximately 1,000 acres along White Oak Creek in Tennessee, which was later acquired for the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

He was a member of Westlake Baptist Church, which he attended with his second wife, Glenda Adams Gray. Bob supported various Baptist churches over the years, as well as the ministries of Franklin Graham and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Bob went to be with the Lord on March 2, 2026. He was preceded in death by his first wife of over sixty years, Margaret Griffith Gray, and by a stepson, Kenny Posey.

He is survived by his wife, Glenda Gray; his sons, Robert Gray II and his wife, MaryAnn, and Ronald E. Gray and his wife, Alicia; his grandsons, Daniel Gray and his wife, Casey, of Blanchard; David Gray and his wife, Ashley, of Lumberton; and Jack H. Ross of Dallas and William C. Ross of Shreveport; his great-grandchildren, Matthew and Alora Gray of Lumberton; his niece, Sherry Haney, and her husband, William, of Paducah; and numerous great-nieces and nephews.

The family extends special thanks to his stepdaughter Julie Smith and her husband Tracy, to Dr. David M. Abdehou, and to the nurses and staff of Willis-Knighton Pierremont Health Center for their care and support.

The family will receive friends Friday, March 6th from 5 until 7 p.m. at Hill Crest Funeral Home in Haughton, LA.

Funeral services will be conducted Saturday, March 7th at 10 am in the Chapel of Hill Crest Funeral Home.

Burial will be in Hill Crest Memorial Park.