Charles William Gray

This site is dedicated to my Grandfather, Charles (Charlie) William Gray, who passed on peacefully
in his sleep at 1am on Friday, June 8th 2007 at the Kettering General Hospital.

Born in Northampton in 1912, Charles was married to Glady's for 72 years and described the success
of a long marriage down to regular arguments.

Born during WW1, he grew up to work in a factory machining metal. Always full of ideas and
initiative he became one of their valued workers. Always the handy man he made many things most of
us wouldn't dream of attempting to make ourselves. No job was too big and no job he couldn't handle.
He fought during WW2 and had many tales to tell his grandchildren of the nights he would be
stationed on the machine guns searching the skys for the German planes as they flew over Scotland
where he was based. After the war he worked on the railways helping build the Northampton line as it
is today.

There were 3 passions in his life, excluding the wife that is - Fishing, Cricket and Football. As a
child I always remember going to visit my grandparents on a Sunday evening and nan would be gutting
the fish pap had caught. He won many trophys for fishing and was secretary of the Britannia Anglers
Club for many years. He was also a lifetime member of the Nene Angling Club. When he wasn't fishing
he was up the country ground watching the cricket and if it wasn't cricket it was football. He saw
his first Cobblers game in 1923 and was still watching them up to the end of the last season and the
good old age of 94.

As time went by his wife Glady's slowly became immobile following a failed hip replacement and
Charles was left to care for the two of them. He did everything you could ask a man to do - all the
cooking, the shopping, the cleaning - everything.

Sadly, as time went by his memories started to fade. The last few years were the hardest for us as
he no longer could remember who any of his family were - not even his wife but he did remember his
childhood years and could still have us in fits of laughter telling us tales of when he was a young
boy.

In 2005 Charles and his wife Glady's moved into Freestones Care Home as with his memory fading, he
was no longer able to care for himself, let alone his wife. His last few years at Freestones were
happy years and I can't thank the staff there enough for taking care of them both - giving them
someone to talk to and making him laugh. He may not have known where he was but he was always
singing and dancing when I went to visit so he was obviously happy which is the most important thing
in the world when your memories are fading. My personal thanks go to Amelia, Emily & Sarah as well
as all the other staff at Freestones who cared for him around the clock. I'm sure they will miss him
as much as we do.

Charles is survived by his wife Gladys, 3 sons (Raymond, Robert & Roger), 6 Grandchildren (Michelle,
Steven, Sarah, Christopher, Jonathan and Samantha) and 5 great grandchildren. Whilst he may be gone,
this site will help ensure he is never forgotten and I invite family and friends to post their
stories and photos to this tribute site.