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June 18, 2009

Gray happy to be Founder’s Day queen

Derrick Miller

DUNCAN — Johna Faye Cordell Gray hasn’t lived in Duncan her entire life. But she has considered the town home since 1930. Even with a brief period in the 1940s, when she and her husband, Cecil Gray, moved away, Johna Gray kept Duncan in her heart.

In part, this is why Gray, 91, was chosen as the 2009 Founder’s Day queen for the City of Duncan. She will be honored during the traditional crowning ceremony at 10:30 a.m. June 27.

“It’s my hometown,” Gray said.

She first came to Duncan with her parents, O.A. and Ceola Cordell, and her brother, J.E. Cordell. Gray was in the eighth grade at Duncan Junior High.

Both Johna and Cecil Gray were graduates of Duncan High School. On Nov. 28, 1936, they married in Ringgold, Texas.

“We were high school sweethearts,” Johna Gray said.

In 1939, Cecil Gray was working in the Well Logging Department of Halliburton. He and Johna were transferred to Houston, Texas.

During their years away from Duncan, Johna and Cecil had two children, Cecile and Stephen.

Cecil Gray was an electrical engineer with experience working on various electronic devices, including radios. His skills were needed in World War II.

As part of the war effort, he joined the U.S. Navy to serve the country.

While her husband was serving in the Navy, Johna Gray wrote him letters every night. It has been her husband’s idea to move back “home” to Duncan, and it was left to Gray to find a residence for her family.

She found a house on Woodlawn she thought would be perfect for the family. Gray wrote her husband to let him know they were homeowners.

The night she found the house, she wrote him, but didn’t go into much detail because she was tired that night. She promised to tell more about the house in follow-up letters.

Unfortunately, Cecil Gray couldn’t receive letters for a couple of weeks following the initial letter. So, he knew he was a homeowner, but didn’t know anything about the house in Duncan.

In 1953, they built another house, which is where Johna Gray still lives.

After the war, Cecil and Johna Gray started a radio repair shop in their garage. It was a called “Cecil Gray Electronics.”

“He had put himself through college by building and repairing radios,” Johna Gray said.

This was before TV. When TVs started coming out, Cecil Gray was able to get in on the ground floor.

The business did well and moved out of the garage and into a building on South U.S. Highway 81. Johna Gray was the office manager.

“It was kind of a Mom and Pop store,” Gray said. “We were there for 25 years.”

They retired in 1981.

This gave them the opportunity to travel. In 2001, Cecil Gray passed away.

Although retired, Johna Gray stays active in her church. She’s on the counting team and helps out with couple’s class. She said there is a curriculum designed to help couples strengthen their bonds.

Gray said she appreciates the community and its people. Duncan has a multitude of churches and school that work hard to teach students what they need to know.

“That’s why we called it ‘our hometown,” she said.

Being selected as Founder’s Day queen is meaningful to Gray because it shows people hold her in high regard in the community.

“It’s a very high honor to represent Stephens County and Duncan as Founder’s Day queen,” Gray said.

She said being selected as queen is just another positive thing in her life.

“I’ve been very, very blessed,” Gray said. “And I know it.”

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