Winifred Doreen Shott Gray

Winifred Doreen Shott Gray, the steadfast matriarch of our family, died May 11, 2018, at Camden Place Health and Rehabilitation in Greensboro. Born in Littledean, England, on September 15, 1920, she was 97.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, at 1 p.m., in Rehobeth United Methodist Church, 4475 Rehobeth Church Road, Greensboro. Rev. Rick Marson will officiate. Interment will follow in the church cemetery.

She joins for eternity her beloved husband Charles, parents Elsie May Young and William Shott, and sisters “Jum”, “Moo”, and “Lallie”.

She leaves behind to remember her: son, Michael (Jeri), grandson Johnathan, and great-grandchildren, Bailey and Branson, of Raleigh; son David and grandson Zachary of Greensboro; son Robert (Tina), granddaughter Sarah (Brian Shoffner) and great-grandsons Brayden and Eason of Burlington, and granddaughter Laura (Harry Cosgrave) of NY, New York; as well as grandnephew Peter Charles of Carmel, New York, and a large extended family in England.

“Doe”, as her family called her, grew up and completed schooling in Littledean in the Forest of Dean, where her father worked in a collary and grandparents operated a village bakery. Early in WWII, she worked as a clerk for the War Department at the Gloster Aircraft Company, where she was wounded in a Luftwaffe bombing. When American soldiers were sent to Britain to prepare for the invasion of Europe, some were boarded at homes in Littledean, including Doreen’s future husband, Charles. They were married at St. Ethelbert’s Church in January, 1945.

After the war ended, Doreen boarded the RMS Queen Mary and crossed the Atlantic to join Charles in Guilford County, NC, with their infant son, Michael. The young couple built a house on Greystone Court and built a life in the Sumner Community, adding to their family, joining Rehobeth United Methodist Church and making life-long friends in the community. With their three boys in school, Doreen went to work for the Guilford County Public Schools’ School Food Services, retiring as director. She also pursued her English love of gardening, becoming a member of Sumner Gardeners and later an officer of the Greensboro Council of Garden Clubs.

Charles and Doreen’s grandchildren began arriving January 1, 1967, with the birth to Michael and Jeri of Johnathan, followed by David and Judy’s Zachary, and Robert and Pat’s Sarah and Laura.

Following Charles’ death in 1995, Doreen moved to Lake Jeanette in Greensboro, continuing activity in the GCGC, making new friends among her neighbors, and welcoming great-grandchildren as a new focus of her life. Her home on Indigo Lake Terrace was the scene of many holiday and birthday parties for family and friends. We will greatly miss her stiff upper lip, humor, hospitality and love.

The family appreciates the doctors, nurses, and support staff of Camden Health and Rehabilitation and the staff of Hospice of Greensboro.

The family will receive friends on Monday evening from 5 until 7 p.m., at the funeral home. Advantage Funeral and Cremation Services, 1900 Vanstory Street, Greensboro, NC, 27403, is serving the Gray Family.