John C.G. Gray

John C. G. Gray, 81 of Vanderbilt passed away Sunday, June 11, 2017 at Otsego Memorial Hospital.

John was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on January 6, 1936 to Hazel Edith (Kreller) and Arthur Gray.

John moved to the Detroit area in 1954.  He served in the United States Army Airborne Division from 1958 to 1960, even though he was a Canadian Citizen.  He became a U.S. Citizen in 1980.

John married Barbara Anne Schmidt of Detroit on April 11, 1964.  John and Barbara lived in Warren, Michigan before moving to Huffman Lake in 1972.  The family resided in Gaylord for several years, but always kept a house by Huffman Lake.

John was an Engineer in the Detroit area before becoming a Builder in Northern Michigan.  In 1986 the family moved to Rochester Hills, Michigan, where he was employed by Chrysler Automotive.  John worked in the auto industry for many years, even after retiring from Chrysler.  He was the Process Engineer on Dodge’s “Team Viper”, and also had the opportunity to live in Argentina, Brazil and China for several years.  John moved back to Huffman Lake in 2000.

He was a man of many talents.  He could sketch and build a house, fix a car, sail a boat, draw a portrait, loved skiing and his coffee and doughnuts.  His sarcastic sense of humor will be greatly missed.

John is survived by his wife of 53 years, Barbara, his children David (Dana) Gray of Summerville, SC, Daniel Gray of Traverse City, Andrea Ania of Traverse City, and Christina (Gregory) Dobrzelewski of Vanderbilt, and grandchildren Dorian, Gabrielle, Eliza, Miranda, Roman and Carson.  He is preceded in death by his parents and an infant son, Paul.

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 PM Saturday, July 22, 2017 at Gaylord Community Funeral Home & Cremation Service where visitation will begin at 11am.

Please share your memories and personal messages with the family at www.gaylordfuneralhome.com