Deacon Forrest Gray recalled as 'the epitome of a deacon'

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Following the Jan. 16 funeral Mass for Deacon Forrest Gray, pallbearers carry the coffin from the Cathedral of the Madeleine to the hearse in preparation for burial at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery.

SALT LAKE CITY — Deacon Forrest Gray, who  served in various parishes in the Diocese of Salt Lake City and also as director of the diocesan Office of Deacons, was “the epitome of a deacon in our Church, and gave his life in service to God and to all people,” said Bishop Oscar A. Solis at the Jan. 16 funeral Mass.

Deacon Gray died Jan. 10. He was born in Stockton, Calif., on July 16, 1933. In 1951 he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. In 1963 he married his wife, Maria-Cruz.  After rising to the rank of chief master sergeant, he retired from the Air Force but continued working as a meteorologist in the National Weather Service. A member of the Fourth Degree of the Knights of Columbus, Marriage Encounter, the Cursillo and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, he was ordained a deacon in 2004 at the Cathedral of the Madeleine by the Most Rev. George H. Niederauer, eighth Bishop of Salt Lake City. He served at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, in the rural missions, and as director of the diocesan Office of Deacons.

“He dedicated himself to the Church in Utah, with service to the Gospel,” Bishop Solis said at the funeral Mass. “With great kindness and no little sacrifice, he offered his daily life as a deacon for the sake of the people of God in this diocese, serving in many capacities to the great benefit of all.”  

At the Jan. 15 vigil, Msgr. Colin F. Bircumshaw, vicar general, said the deacon “used his undoubtedly enormous gifts of faith, of care, of understanding, for the larger purpose of the mission of the Gospel. He put those gifts at the service of innumerable people in his preaching, his teaching, in his accompanying of others through the RCIA, in his mentoring of his brother deacons, in his assisting of his wife, Maria-Cruz, in her special ministry for the Hispanic community in our diocese, in his companionship while visiting the sick and the homebound, bringing them holy Communion.”

Deacon Gray’s “family was the still point in his turning life,” Msgr. Bircumshaw said, referring to the first reading at the vigil, from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes.

Likewise, in his homily at the funeral Mass, Father Javier Virgen said Deacon Gray’s greatest treasure, Christ living in him, “was evident by how he loved his Maria-Cruz – embraced daily in their 56 years of marriage vows. It is marked by a lifelong love for his sister Janet and brother Donald.  It is clear in his endless love for his beloved children Jane, Edward and Fr. Christopher. It is certain in his grandchildren, extended family and friends, ahijados and compadres who experienced Christ’s embrace in those long arms and large hands of Forrest. And it is expressed by his loving service as a deacon to Diocese of Salt Lake City – called by Christ to serve.”

Speaking of faith about heaven, and resurrection, and the next life gives consolation and strength, but “the primary reason we speak of these things is because they are true. Forrest would tell us that,” Fr. Virgen said. “To know Forrest – to meet him – was to sense and experience Christ.  His face carried that stamp of welcome. His distinct voice ensured that welcome. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, Forrest’s intent was on applying his life by what God revealed to him rather than trust on his own understanding.  To that effect, he opened his life to the Catholic faith.”  

Deacon Gray was a peacemaker, and his life “was prompted by glorifying God in everything he could do,” Fr. Virgen said. “ These expressions of faith were accomplished by sharing his love and faith for God among the many people he encountered. He based his life on the truth of God’s Word. As opposed to collecting the things of this world for himself, he walked in faith, believing he should give himself to others.”