The man credited with the “QHS Fight Song” when he was band director for the Quanah Independent School District throughout the 1950s, L.E. Gray, 85, of Kerens died Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, at the East Texas Medical Center Hospital in Tyler.

Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19, in Paschal Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Leslie Byrd officiating. Burial was in Kerens Cemetery.

A 1943 graduate of Kerens High School, Gray attended Tarleton State University and then North Texas State University. He also served in the Army Air Force, and earned a private pilot’s license. Gray started his teaching career at Kerens, where he was for three years prior to becoming band director in Quanah from 1950 to 1960. From here he moved to Wichita Falls so that his sons could attend Midwestern University. In Wichita Falls, he first taught in junior high and then at Wichita Falls High School, staying in the city for 15 years before moving to Burkburnett, where he stayed 10 years.

At Quanah, Gray not only was credited with the “Fight Song,” but also with initiating the stage band, plus he organized a drive to purchase new band uniforms, to jazz up what became rafter-raising pep rallies in the auditorium, and to allow football players to be in the band and vice-versa.

Gray was remembered with great affection by an entire generation of Quanah High School students who continued to remain in touch with him through the years.
Survivors include two sons, Bill Gray of Broken Arrow, Okla., and David “Bubba” Gray of St. Augustine, Fla.; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A scholarship in Gray’s memory has been established by the QHS Class of 1954 through the Quanah Alumni Association. Those wishing to contribute may send checks to the Association secretary-treasurer Helen Parker at P.O. Box 13, Quanah, Texas 79252. If a member of the 1954 class, indicate so on the check.