Marjorie Smith Gray of Milford, VA, passed away in Mary Washington Hospital at the age of 96 on June 16, 2024, a Sunday. She said it would be Sunday because she was also born on a Sunday, June 3, 1928, in Elmont, VA, and whatever Margie said always came to be. It was probably also because she knew her magnolias would still be in bloom. She loved her beautiful yard with its flowering trees and hummingbirds.

As a child, she was Marjorie Cobb Smith, and enjoyed growing up on Pasadena Farm, as well as in her father’s country store, where she met her future husband, Emerson Monroe Gray, Sr. She fell in love with Emerson through letters from his US Navy ship, and when he came back from the Pacific front of World War II to see her, she planted a kiss square on his mouth despite her mother’s warning not to even hug him at their reunion. They married on October 25, 1947, right after his twenty-first birthday, and began their family just outside of Ashland with son Monroe, then moved to Oaklawn Farm and added sons, Garry and David, and finally a long-awaited daughter, Kathy.

Margie and Emerson designed and built a beautiful home named “Graymont” in Milford, VA and moved their family there in 1964. It was at Graymont that Margie hosted many wonderful parties, garden clubs, weddings, Easters, and Christmases. She also opened her home as a place of refuge for beloved family when they needed a place to rest, heal, or pass away. It was there that she fought tirelessly for her sister, son, and husband’s lives when anyone else would have given up. And it was there that she became “Nanny” and helped raise her grandchildren, giving them, and later their own children, the freedom to experience the adventures that shaped their childhoods.

Beyond her home in Virginia, she traveled the world with her honey, Emerson and loved to dress up in fancy clothes on cruises and other events. She had an impeccable eye for quality jewelry and household goods, and the confidence to bargain for a good deal on them, even when no one else was bold enough to ask for a discount. At one point she used this skill to open an antiques shop with her daughter-in-law and made more mischief than money. But as she said at the end of her life about many things, “I had fun.”

Nanny loved her family even more than crabcakes and her collectible dolls. She would often take her “angels” to the pool, on the boat, on shopping trips or fun trips around the world, and to the beach to forge lasting family bonds. Her angels were lucky to have many good years with her, and still feel like they needed more time to enjoy her entertaining stories or to get her list of chores done. They will miss her yet feel comfort that now she is finally an angel like them.

Nanny Margie is survived by her sons, Emerson Monroe Gray, Jr. (Irene) and Garry Leonard Gray (Jackie); her nephew, Robby Caruthers (Ada); former daughter-in-law, Carolyn Lane (John); granddaughter, Tracey Gray Mallory (Ashley), granddaughter, Kathrine Gray Wright (Justin), grandson, Ashley Barlow Gray (Cathy), grandson, Ryan Leonard Gray (Charlene), great niece, Kathleen Caruthers Young (Cameron); great nephew, Ashton Caruthers; great grandchildren Kailey Alexis Gray, Kamryn Ashley Gray, Christianna Lorenne Gray, Camden Leonard Gray, Nolan Ashley Mallory, Emerson Kathleen Mallory, and Madeleine Gray Wright; nephew, Clark Gray (Mary Tod); niece, Diane Dodd (Jack); and niece, Sky Gray. She was also grateful for her caregivers, Patsy Williams, Michelle Wyant, Sherry Parke, and Blanche Williamson, as well as countless cousins, neighbors, and friends.

She was preceded in death by her father, Arthur Leonard Smith; her mother, Kathleen Cobb Smith; her husband, Emerson Monroe Gray, Sr.; her daughter, Kathy Gray; her son, David Gray; her grandson, Aaron Emerson Gray; her sister, Carolyn Caruthers; and her niece, Kim Caruthers.

Visitation will be held at Nanny Margie’s church, Carmel Baptist, on Friday, June 28 at 10:00 AM, followed by a service celebrating her life at 11:00 AM. She will then be laid to rest next to her honey, Emerson, in the adjacent church cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Carmel Baptist Church, PO Box 52, Ruther Glen, VA 22546.

Nanny Margie will be dearly missed by all who knew her, but her memory will live on in the hearts of those she touched.