Lanella Gray

Lanella Spinks Gray was called home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Saturday morning, April 6, 2024, following a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease.

The beloved daughter of William Milton Spinks and Lillian Calvert Spinks, Lanella grew up in Kilgore, Texas during the East Texas oil boom, later contributing her stories about growing up in East Texas to the book, Just Between Us: Stories and Memories from the Texas Pines. She was a member of the famed Kilgore College Rangerettes in 1952, appearing with the Rangerettes on the Ed Sullivan Show, before attending Baylor University to study under legendary director and theater innovator, Dr. Paul Baker. Thus, began her lifelong support of Baylor and its mission.

While a student at Baylor, Lanella met her husband, and the love of her life, Tom Gray. They were married from May 29, 1955, until Tom's untimely death from cancer in April of 1998. Lanella and Tom were parents to three sons, James Cary Gray, Milton Schylar Gray and Walter Harold Gray, II, all of the Houston area.

Following graduation from Baylor, Lanella and Tom lived in Dallas, where he was a Certified Public Accountant and she worked for Dr. Baker during the earliest years of the Dallas Theatre Center. They moved to Houston in 1963, becoming long-time members of Memorial Drive United Methodist Church and raising their sons. Then, in the early 1990s they moved to Independence, Texas, near Brenham.

Simply put, Lanella had more energy than almost anyone. She was as true force of nature. She kept herself busy as a PTA President and directing school plays at Rummel Creek Elementary School, serving for years as an MYF leader at Memorial Drive, supporting the family's Arabian Horse operation known as Act III Arabians, and volunteering for an untold number of charitable and civic organizations.

After they moved to Independence, into the "shadow of Old Baylor" as they would say, Lanella and Tom became involved in many Brenham and nearby community activities. Lanella was named 2013 "Woman of the Year" by the Washington County Chamber of Commerce. She served as President of the Independence Historical Society and became immersed in the history and early years of Washington County, as the birthplace of Texas. When Tom died, most of their friends thought Lanella would move back to Houston. Instead, she stayed on the farm nestled in rolling hills among beautiful, old live oak trees and bluebonnets in the spring, until Alzheimer's forced her to move back to town in 2019.

In 2005, Baylor's Vice-President of Student Life, Samuel W. "Dub" Oliver, called Lanella to ask if he could come visit her in Independence about an idea he had to expand Baylor's Line Camp program. He wanted to begin bringing incoming students to the historic village of Independence to visit Baylor's original campus, where Baylor was chartered in 1845. Among other things, Dr. Oliver wanted Lanella to use her drama background to tell her own Baylor story to the students, and to weave into it the history of Independence.

Thus began Lanella's key role in Baylor's Line Camp. Thousands of incoming Baylor students have visited each year thereafter, gathering into the old Independence Baptist Church where they would hear Lanella tell them they were on the same "hallowed grounds" where Baylor started, and were "touching the same stones that Baylor students touched 150 years ago." The students would swoon, and sometimes even shed a few tears, as Lanella told them about the tree that once stood in front of Burleson Hall, where she lived during her senior year. She said Tom would see her to the door, then go lean on the tree waiting on her to stick her head out of the window of her first-floor dorm room to say one last, "good night."

Lanella was the 2009 recipient of Baylor's prestigious W.R. White Meritorious Service Award for extraordinary service to the university.

The Gray family would like to thank the team of caregivers in the Memory Care center at The Tradition-Woodway who gave so much of themselves to take care of Lanella in her final years.

Lanella was preceded in death by her parents, Lillian and Milton Spinks, her sister, Nettie Lou Spinks, and her husband, Tom Gray. She is survived by her sons, James Cary Gray and wife, Amber; Milton Schylar Gray and wife, Kerrie; Walter Harold Gray, II and wife, Libby; her nine grandchildren, Thomas Cary Gray, William Carroll Gray, Caroline (Carly) Gray Lukefahr, Milton Schylar Gray, Jr., James Taylor Gray, Alanna Gray Bass, Amberly Gray Black, Ashley Gray Kelley and Andrew William Gray; as well as fifteen great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Lanella's amazing life will be held in the old Independence Baptist Church, Fm 390 and Fm 50, Independence, TX,  on Thursday, April 18, 2024, at 1:30 p.m., Dr. Alan J. Lefever officiating, with interment following at the Old Independence Cemetery where she will be laid to rest next to Tom.

Pallbearers will be Ashley Gray Kelley, Thomas Cary Gray, Andrew William Gray, William Carroll Gray, Chris Black, Caroline (Carly) Gray Lukefahr and Amberly Gray Black

In lieu of flowers, the Gray family suggests contributions to the "Lanella Spinks Gray Baylor at Independence Endowed Fund" established for the purpose of ensuring the preservation of Baylor's historical presence at the original university campus in Independence. Gifts may be made online, or mailed to Baylor University, One Bear Place #97026, Waco Texas 76798.