Photo courtesy of Owens and Brumley Funeral Home - Wichita Falls
Jun 26, 1932 - Mar 19, 2026
I was her travel agent for a long time and it was a delight to have met her and helped her with her travel.
Glen Jennings
March 23, 2026 | Wichita Falls, TX | Acquaintance
I met Joan when I was at Sheppard AFB in 2001 and the SAFN group would gather with our nurses to share the most wonderful stories. Since retiring my husband and I were able to spend some time visiting. Joan lived an amazing life and will be missed.
Brenda Morgan
March 23, 2026 | Granbury, TX | Friend
In memory of and in gratitude for her honorable military service during the Vietnam War caring for our troops. May God bless her and welcome her home. Peace be with her family and friends at this time.
Grateful Nation
March 22, 2026
I first met Joan when she and I were stationed at Wiesbaden Medical Center in Germany. I was a pediatric nurse practitioner and she was the outpatient clinic supervisor. She would always stop by on her daily rounds to check on us junior nurses and always had a smile and genuine concern for our welfare in a very busy clinic. I was blessed to have been reunited with her and Diane when we all found ourselves in Wichita Falls, TX. We all renewed a great friendship and did a lot of wonderful...
Rita Vokes
March 22, 2026 | WICHITA FALLS, TX | Military
An amazing lady who I was priviledged to know as we worked together in North Texas Genealogical Association.
Marilyn Meador
March 22, 2026 | Wichita Falls, TX | Friend
For the little time I had the blessing to be in your presence you were the most welcoming warmhearted person I’ve ever met. I’m so grateful to have met such an amazing person. Thank you for showing me such love and kindness. You will always be in my heart, cherished forever and always.
Marie Hoskin
March 21, 2026 | Enterprise, AL | Family
I really liked Joan and appreciated her kindness while I was in BPW. I’m sorry for Diane’s loss.
Teri Hale Reese
March 21, 2026 | Midland, TX | Friend
Joan was my dear cousin. Although we haven't been able to see each other in persin for some years, we have been in close communication through FB and ancestry searches she has done for our fanily. During the war, I lived with Joan and her mom and dad. I have such fond memories of happy times spent with her, practicing the piano, doing spoolies, playing games, and listening to the radio. I was 10 and Joan was 16.
Nancy Yeaw
March 21, 2026 | Provincetown, MA
Joan I. Gray, Colonel (Ret.), USAF Nurse Corps, went to be with her Lord and Savior on March 19, 2026. She was born June 26, 1932, in Fall River, Massachusetts, the daughter of Aulton O. “Pete” Gray and Emily L. (Redfearn) Gray.
Funeral services will be held at First United Methodist Church on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. with The Society of Air Force Nurses rendering the Nightingale Tribute in honor of Joan. Interment will follow at Crestview Memorial Park under the direction of Owens & Brumley Funeral Home in Wichita Falls.
A graduate of Bradford Matthew Chandler Durfee High School, Joan completed nursing training at Union Hospital School of Nursing in 1953. She began her career at the local hospital, then moved to Providence Veterans Hospital in Providence, RI. While at the VA she furthered her education at Boston College, Providence College, and the University of Massachusetts. After six years at the VA, she followed her dream of serving in the Air Force—she always said she “liked the color blue.”
Joan’s Air Force career began with training at Gunter AFB, Alabama, followed by MacDill AFB, Florida, where she served on alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After a brief civilian position with Dr. Charles Earley in Virginia Beach, Joan returned to military life. Her first assignment was Tachikawa, Japan—where she cared for evacuees from Vietnam and made a lifelong friend in Diane Hoskin. While in Japan she pitched for the Air Force softball team, competing against the Army and Navy.
It was on this assignment that Joan met a young Marine named Eddie in the Intensive Care Unit who had been wounded and was being sent back to the States. They figured out that he was not only from her hometown, but their families lived only a few blocks from each other. She asked him, “does your mother know you are coming home?” and Eddie answered “no.” So, Joan wrote a letter to her mom and asked her to call Eddie’s mom. Forty years later, Eddie looked Joan up to thank her. A reunion followed and they were friends from then on.
Following Japan, Joan was assigned to Otis AFB, Massachusetts, but didn’t get to stay long. Joan was deployed to Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon, Vietnam, caring for wounded service members and providing medical outreach in villages. Once even pulling teeth for elderly and sewing a child’s foot while the villagers admired the “pretty doctor.” She brought home a dog, Sunny, from Vietnam; Sunny lived with her for eighteen years and accompanied Joan on many moves.
Subsequent assignments included March AFB, California—where she worked with hospitals receiving returning POWs and assisted in family notifications—Blytheville AFB, Arkansas; Maxwell AFB, Alabama, where she was one of five women among 750 men at a command-level school; Barksdale AFB, Louisiana; Wiesbaden, Germany, where she cared for returning Iranian hostages and earned civilian recognition for outstanding supervision and performance; and finally Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, where she retired. Her decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Vietnam Service Medals, and numerous other awards recognizing her outstanding service.
After military life, Joan used the GI Bill to study art at Midwestern State University, exhibiting photography and paintings and learning gallery methods and framing. She opened a picture-framing business and served her community with that craft for 24 years.
Joan was a two-time, long-term breast cancer survivor (36 and 23 years) and an active member of the Sheppard AFB/Wichita Falls Breast Cancer Survivors group. She was deeply involved at First United Methodist Church—teaching third-grade Sunday School, serving on many committees, visiting shut-ins, delivering flowers to the hospitalized, and her favorite – serving on and leading the television ministry.
She was active in the Society of Air Force Nurses (serving as the Caring & Sharing representative), a 20-year member of Texas Business and Professional Women’s Foundation (as Membership Chair and Photographer), and Secretary of the Texas Association of Vietnam Veterans, helping to staff the Traveling Wall when it visited Wichita Falls twice.
Genealogy was a cherished pursuit as well; Joan served four terms as president of her genealogy group and traced family lines back to the early 1700s and beyond, helping others research their roots.
Joan is survived by her best friend Diane J. Hoskin, Lt. Col. (Ret.), USAF NC; cousins Harry Redfearn and Nancy Yeaw and their families in New England; and many cherished friends in Wichita Falls and around the world.
Memorial donations may be made to First United Methodist Church, 10th and Travis, Wichita Falls, TX 76301 or a charity of your choosing.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.owensandbrumley.com
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