Rev Gray Watson Hampton Jr.
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Gray Watson Hampton, Jr. was born on April 10th, 1928 in Huntington, WV, son of Gray Watson Hampton and Lucile Benn Kilby, and died September 10th, 2007 in Huntington, WV. He graduated from Woodberry Forest Prep School in 1947 and Davidson College in 1951. Later that year, Gray joined the U.S. Navy reserves. He was called to active duty in December 1952 and graduated from Navy Officer Candidate School shortly thereafter. Gray continued his active service with the Navy until late 1956, including tours of duty in both the Far East and the South Pole, and was in the reserves through 1959. After completing his active service, Gray attended both the Presbyterian School of Christian Education and Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA and graduated in 1960. The year before graduating, Gray married Julia Long Rolston. Gray�s first call to the pastorate was to Sunset Hills Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC in 1960. In late 1962, he became pastor of Buffalo Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC. In 1968, Gray returned home to become associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church, where he served for the next 11 years. After that, Gray continued his ministry by serving as an interim pastor for several other local churches, while also selling commercial and residential real estate. In 1981, Gray joined the Foster Foundation Board of Directors and in 1988 he became the administrator of Foster Memorial Home. Gray retired in 1997. Gray had long dreamed of having a retirement community in Huntington and proposed the idea to the Foster Foundation in 1988. He agreed to become the administrator of Foster Memorial Home, if the foundation would commit to building a retirement community. Over the next eight years, Gray worked tirelessly with the Foster Foundation, Mike Milligan and his team from JMM Architects, and other members of the community on the development plans. In August 1996, Woodlands Retirement Community opened and within a few months every apartment was occupied. Gray served as trustee of the Huntington Symphony Orchestra, President of the Family Service Board, a member of the Ethics Committee at Cabell Huntington Hospital and a member of the West Virginia Personal Care Task Force which assisted with the development of enabling legislation passed by the West Virginia Legislature in 1997. In recent years, he was also a Parish Associate at First Presbyterian Church and made many pastoral calls. Gray is survived by his wife, Julia, and his children, Gray Watson Hampton III, David Rolston Hampton, Mary Lucile Daly, and Jacqueline Ruth Hampton and his grandchildren, Michael Gray Daly and Tyler Joseph Daly. A Celebration of Grays� life will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, September 15, 2007 at The First Presbyterian Church. A gathering of family and friends will be held afterwards in the Friendship Hall. Klingel-Carpenter Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
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