Diane Mason Gray

She was born on 30 Jun 1952 in Norfolk, Virginia, to Dolly Leaverne Evelyn (Higgerson) Mason and Douglas Fairbanks Mason, both natives of DeValls Bluff, Prairie County, Arkansas. Her death occurred on 3 July 2023 at Sentara Virginia Beach General, VA.

Along with her parents, she moved from Norfolk Highlands in Norfolk County to Virginia Beach in 1959 and attended John B. Dey Elementary School subsequently graduating from Frank W. Cox High School in 1970. She graduated with honors from Princess Anne Business College in 1971 and again from its Court Reporting Division in 1974. On 10 Aug 1974 in Chesapeake, she married Frederick Wilson Gray. That same year she began a freelance reporting career becoming certified by the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) as a Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) in early 1975. Later she obtained the Certified Realtime Reporter (CRR) certification the first time the test was offered and was called a pioneer in realtime reporting by the Journal of Court Reporting.

After freelancing 21 years and with a letter of recommendation from the Honorable Walter E. Hoffman, she became an Official U.S. Court Reporter in 1995. She reported the first realtime trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division, where counsel in the pharmaceutical patent-infringement case used litigation support software connected to realtime feed of the scrolling readable transcript.

In 2003, she was honored to accept the position of Court Record Manager at the Center for Legal and Court Technology located at the College of William and Mary Law School where Professor Fredric I. Lederer and she provided demonstrations of technology in the courtroom to high school students, law students, judges, lawyers, clerks, and court technologists in the world’s most technologically advanced courtroom either in person or via videoteleconferencing. Many of the guests came from the National Center for State Courts next-door where they were enrolled in seminars. She enjoyed teaching law students about making the court record and worked tirelessly to provide transcripts of their Legal Skills trials. Highlights of her career were meeting Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, obtaining her signature on a book she wrote, and seeing Queen Elizabeth, II, on Charter Day.

In 1973, she joined the Virginia Court Reporters Association of which she held most offices, including the presidency from 1988-90, and for 14 years served as its convention planner. She received several awards from VCRA and was the first recipient of its coveted Frank G. Tayloe Award in 1999. Having obtained certification as a Certified Verbatim Reporter (CVR), she was also a member of the National Verbatim Reporters Association.

As an only child, she cherished time spent with her maternal family, especially Sunday dinners prepared by her grandmother, aunts, and mother. She developed an interest in family history at eight years old and made roadtrips as a youngster to visit her paternal family in Arkansas during which time she learned to read maps and to appreciate funerary art in cemeteries.

In 1972, she traveled with her parents to New Madrid, Missouri, birthplace of her maternal grandfather and inquired at the post office if anyone of that name might still be there, to which the postman replied, This place is full of them. He directed her to Ralph Higgerson’s Barber Shop on Main Street where she received a warm greeting and hug, and he sent her to his brother’s home, whose family was also interested in genealogy and whose wife was also a cousin. The following year, she attended the annual Higgerson Reunion where she met many relatives, one of whom was 11-year-old Mary Jane Higgerson. They developed a closeness that lasted a lifetime.

As a free-lance court reporter, she voluntarily traveled so she could visit court clerks’ offices, historic sites, archives, museums, and libraries following her freelance reporting jobs. Twice she toured Europe locating her uncle’s Steiblen relatives in Mulhouse, France, and subsequently hosting them in Virginia Beach taking them to the nation’s capital.

She was a charter member of the Norfolk Genealogical Society, and in 1981 joined the National Genealogical Society maintaining membership well over 35 years. She belonged to many other associations and historical societies and derived great satisfaction from helping adoptees locate biological families, which was exciting.

When she could no longer travel, she delighted in locating distant cousins via DNA and genealogical websites , corresponding by email and social media and determining common ancestors. She created a Chewning/Chowning distribution group for sharing research and was the project administrator for the Higgerson/Higgason/Hickerson DNA Project at familytreedna.com. After locating her husband’s ancestor at Plimoth Colony, she discovered that Gray’s Harbor, Washington, was named for his seafaring cousin, Capt. Robert Gray, who discovered the Columbia River in 1792 and was first to sail under the American flag while circumnavigating the world. Even more thrilling was learning she had Jamestown ancestry on her mother’s side and Mayflower ancestry on her father’s side.

She is survived by three nieces and a nephew and their families: Samantha Mason (Tony) Crouch; April Mason (Tony) Harris; Mary Hume Hickerson (Charles) Gouch; Michael A. (Alicia) D’Annolfo, as well as maternal and paternal first cousins and their families.

Predeceasing in death is her husband, Frederick Wilson Gray, on 3 Mar 2016; her parents, Daddy on 12 Oct 2007 and Momma on 20 Apr 2020, half-brother, Douglas Y. Mason on 16 June 2023, a stillborn brother, Gerald Douglas Mason, on 11 Jun 1963, as well as many aunts, uncles, and two first-cousins.

At her request, there will be no funeral. Her cremains will be inurned with her husband’s and immediate family at Rosewood Memorial Park, 631 N Witchduck Road in Virginia Beach in a private committal.

In lieu of flowers, she would appreciate any memorial donations be made to Higgerson School Historic Site, 300 Main St, New Madrid, MO 63869, Ph: (573) 748-5716, which is on the National Registry and an authentically restored one-room schoolhouse moved from the Higgerson community to the town of New Madrid and authentically restored by many of its former students, her cousins. http://www.newmadridmuseum.com and http://www.new-madrid.mo.us/34/Higgerson-School-Historic-Site

Deceased Aunts & Uncles

Harold & Eunice Higgerson

Ivan & Edith Higgerson

Anna Lee & Don Denkle

Margie Higgerson

Geneva & Ralph Mince

Harry & Goldie Mason

Frances & John Compton

Charles & Marion Wolfe (Marion living as of 9/26/21)

Betty Ann Mince (living as of 9/26/21)

Wesley & Florence Mason

Freda & George Mulling

Thelma & Charlie Hutchens

Lorene & Italo Bianchi

Deceased Cousins

Carroll I. Mince

Nancy A. Mince

Jonathan Crawford

Living

Half-cousin Cindy Godair

Step cousin Charles Irvin

Step cousin George Marion

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.kellumfuneralhome.com for the Gray family.