Magdalena "Magda" Gray.... Age 72

CREMATION

CELEBRATION OF LIFE 10-11:30AM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2014

EDDY-BIRCHARD CHAPEL

MEMORIALS: ALZHEIMER ASSOCIATION
Memorials may be sent in care of the Eddy-Birchard Funeral Home P.O. Box 430, Osawatomie, KS 66064



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Magdalena “Magda” Gray age 72, of Paola, Kansas died Monday, February 10, 2014 at her home.

Magda was born in Rabat, Morocco March 26, 1941 the youngest of three to Francisco and Anne (Galoforo) Perez.

She grew up in Rabat and attended school there graduating from Rabat Morocco High School in the class of 1957.  She then attended secretarial school and two years of college in Rabat.

In 1958 Magda went to work at the Rabat military base as a typist. Only a year later to move into a position with the Euro Moroccan Liaison office in Rabat as a translator of French and Spanish. She was also a typist administrator and was the supervisor over fifty men.

Magda met Bill Gray Jr. an American soldier while working at the military base and the couple soon fell in love and was married on July 14, 1960 in Rabat, Morocco. Several dignitaries attended the ceremony including Monsignor Kiaser and the United States Ambassador of Morocco. The couple became the parents of two children while in Morocco.

That same year she went to work for Monsignor Kiaser at the Catholic Relief Services as a secretary, translator and fund disperser. She was employed there until   1964 when she was offered a position at the United Nations as a tri lingual secretary and a technical assistant she worked there until 1966.

Magda then went to work at the Kenita U.S. Naval Base Hospital. She was a secretary and translator for the hospital, she also worked as a “stand-by” for the Doctors when the nurses were all busy.

In 1970 the family moved to the United States they were transferred to a base in Florida where her husband was in charge of opening an NCO club on the base.

After her husband Bill was discharged from the military they move to Chicago, Illinois where the couple had a McDonalds Drive-In for several years. In 1981 they moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and opened a small doughnut shop. The business took off and soon they were one of the largest distributors of doughnuts in the area. Delivering to stores like 7-11, restaurants and military bases.  Their business expanded to four shops and they then became the largest in Oklahoma City. They decided to sell all but one until her husband’s health began to fail and they moved to Gardner, Kansas where their daughter lived.  Her husband Bill died in 2004, the couple had been married for forty-four years.

Magda moved back to Oklahoma City for about two years. She then moved back to Kansas, and shared a home with her daughter in Paola.  She went to work a Subway Sandwich shop where she was still working.

Magda was quite an extraordinary woman, she had an impressive career and still was a very down to earth person. She loved her family and was not afraid to work to take care of herself and them.  She made many friends throughout her lifetime and will not be forgotten, she will be greatly missed by many.

She was preceded in death by her parents, and her husband.

She is survived by her children: Ann Gray of Paola, Kansas, her son Dennis Gray of Walters, Oklahoma, and a dear friend she considered “a daughter” Elayne Roche and “grandson” Justin of Paola, Kansas and a granddaughter of Norman, Oklahoma.