Georgina Squires Gray

Georgina Squires Gray died peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday, February 11, 2014. She was born August 21, 1922 in Portland, Oregon to Claire Wilcox Squires and Cameron Squires. Growing up outside Portland, she loved the outdoors, especially downhill skiing and ice skating, even considering dropping out of school to skate professionally. Instead she traveled to New York where she attended the Spence School and Finch College. While vacationing in Santa Barbara in 1950, she met and married Horace Gray, Jr., a young attorney and artist. While raising a family and running a catering business in the late fifties and early sixties, Gina was a tireless volunteer. She participated in numerous projects during her long standing association with the Junior League, volunteered for the Community Chest, Red Cross, United Way, served as President of the Garden Club of Santa Barbara and more recently served several years as treasurer of the Community Arts Music Association Auxiliary Board. Somehow she found time to play tennis and attend her weekly Santa Barbara Yacht Club bridge game, which she did for sixty years. In the 1970s she and Horace began splitting their time between Santa Barbara and Sun Valley, Idaho where Gina taught cross-country skiing, volunteered at the Ketchum Community Library and became an avid hiker. She shared a love of travel with her two sisters and instilled a wanderlust in her children. After she hung up her tennis racket, Gina joined several more bridge groups playing 5 or 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day. She never corrected a partner or commented on a misplayed hand, but if there was a disagreement, her authority prevailed. Gina will be remembered for her sense of humor, her positive attitude, her graciousness, her calm under pressure, her prowess at the bridge table, and her cheesecake. Gina lived a life of integrity and valor. She made friends easily and many of them. She lived life on life's terms, facing the challenges of aging with grace and dignity. Gina was predeceased by her husband Horace and her sisters, Claire Weaver and Josephine Hazen. She is survived by her children Charles Cameron Gray (Barbara), Katharine Gray DeWitt (Jack), Susanna Gray Williams (John), step-son Hod Gray (Laraine), her grandchildren Charlie DeWitt (Molly), Horace Gray IV, Meagan Kemps (John), Erin Guerra (Steve), Cameron Gray (Joslyn), great-grandchildren Max Kemps, Fiona Guerra, Jackson DeWitt and numerous beloved nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Gina's Life is being planned for April. Many thanks to all who cared for her in the last few months, especially Dr. Dennis Baker, the caring staff at Samarkand Health Center and for the loving care she received from her entire Visiting Nurse/Hospice team. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Guide Dogs for the Blind or Visiting Nurse/ Hospice of Santa Barbara.

Georgina Squires Gray

August 21, 1922 - February 11, 2014