James McIlvaine Gray's Obituary
James McIlvaine Gray was born November 27th, 1943 in Mineola, New York and returned to His Lord September 11, 2011 at the age of 67. He is preceded in death by George Gray, father and Dorothy Fitzgibbons Gray, mother, of Garden City, New York. He is survived by his beloved wife of 44 years Andrea C. Gray, son Dane Gray and wife Melanie and granddaughter Marissa of College Station, Texas, son Christopher Gray of McKinney, Texas, sister Judy Vars and husband Gary of Minnesota, brother John Gray and wife Jackie of Australia and numerous nieces and nephews. He attended preparatory school at Hebron Academy in Maine, received his BA in Economics from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, and his Masters in Economics from Indiana University in Bloomington, where he met and married the love of his life, Andrea. After college, he served honorably in the USAF from 1968 to1972. He was stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. He worked at Personnel Laboratory all four years. It was here he began to hone his computer skills. He was self-taught in the field of Computer Engineering. The bulk of his career was spent at EDS, and was filled with EDS and industry firsts. Jim designed and built the following: EDS’s first database system, which was used for Detroit Edison, the industry’s first automatic code-generation system in EDS’s R&D, EDS’s first data modeling tool and the automated Saturn Automobile Manufacturing Facility in Spring Hill, TN. He is remembered fondly by his EDS colleagues and clients for his dedication, innovative mind and humor in times of crisis. He later spent ten years with Perot Systems. Most recently he was employed by Parsons Corporation where he was a Systems Architect and Senior Program Manager. He was a long time member of First Presbyterian Church in Richardson. He served in many capacities including Elder. His most beloved position of 30 years was as Sunday School Teacher for the 4-5 year old children. His love and devotion to children and youth was legendary. Each child he taught was a “child of his” for life. He had a real passion for playing soccer for the North Dallas Forty with his band of brothers, snow skiing in Lake Tahoe with great friends, riding his Harley Davidson, tubing the Guadalupe River, smoking the perfect BBQ ribs for treasured friends and family and playing washers. Jim and Andrea have traveled all over the world but Jim’s favorite memoires include teaching his granddaughter to body surf in Hawaii and eating vanilla ice cream with sprinkles afterwards. Memorial Services will be held Friday, September 16th, 2011 at 4 PM at First Presbyterian Church of Richardson, 271 N. Walton St, Richardson, Tx, 75081. Telephone 972-235-2316. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Children’s Playground Fund at First Presbyterian Church of Richardson. He will be missed by countless people whose lives he has impacted. Well done good and faithful servant.
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