Adds information about funeral services

Ralph Gray, a Santa Clarita Valley resident and husband of the 2014 Woman of the Year, Cheryl Gray, died Sunday. He was 67.

A memorial for Ralph Gray will be held Saturday, March 7, at Eternal Valley at 2 p.m.

A reception will follow at the Elks Lodge. Guests are asked to dress in Hawaiian shirts or be casual, as he would have loved it.  Pastor Kevin Pisano will be officiating, and Jimmy Carnelli will be singing.

Ralph’s wife, Cheryl Gray, said it would be “an upbeat, casual service.”

Cheryl Gray said he died peacefully after battling liver failure.

“(Ralph Gray) was on the transplant list, but Friday night, they found out he had liver cancer,” she said. “They took him off the machine Sunday with his family and friends around him. He was on dialysis and breathing machine, as well as blood pressure medication.”

He retired in July 2013 and traveled, most of the time with Cheryl Gray, to Hawaii, the Caribbean, Florida, Las Vegas, Washington to see his son and Dana Point to see Cheryl’s daughter.

“Ralph and Cheryl have been a fixture in our community for many years,” said Carl and Jeri Seratti Goldman, co-owners of KHTS AM 1220. “Our hearts go out to Cheryl and her family.”

Ralph and Cheryl Gray celebrated 16 years of marriage Feb. 1. Ralph Gray leaves behind a blended family of two sons, two daughters and nine grandchildren.

The two met in 1975, when Ralph Gray worked for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and dated “on and off,” eventually marrying in 1999.

Ralph Gray lived in the Santa Clarita Valley for more than 40 years, moving to the valley in the 1970s. Cheryl Gray moved to the valley in 1984.

“He volunteered at the Carousel Ranch Trap and Skeet Shoot, he competed in golf tournaments, he does the Henry Mayo Golf Tournament every year, Boys and Girls Club auction every year, he like to bike ride — he would just go out with his friends,” Cheryl Gray said.

Ralph Gray was born in 1947 and has an older brother and sister.

“He had a great personality. I could take him anywhere and he would just make friends.
He was very supportive of me,” Cheryl Gray said. “He was very easy going, a great husband, great provider, great grandfather and father. He just really loved life and he was taken too soon.”

The funeral service is public and planned to be held March 7 at 2 p.m. at the Eternal Valley Memorial Park and Mortuary. The reception location has not been decided on at this time.