Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Wray Page Jr., 90, known as "Wray," of Gloucester, died peacefully at home on April 16, 2011.
Wray was born on Oct. 16, 1920, at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, to the late Cecil Wray Page Sr. and Elizabeth Agnes Rush Greaves Page. He was raised at "Shelly" on the York River in Gloucester County.
Wray was preceded in death by his loving wife of 66 years, Nina G. Page. He is survived by his three children, Nina Wray Page Waltzer, Anne Cecil Page and John Mann Page; grandchildren, Eloise Page Spetko, Thomas Nelson Page, Virginia McCabe Page, John Mann Page Jr., Caroline Margaret Page, Christopher Carter Page and Katherine Brooke Page; his sister, Elizabeth Page Aldrich; nephew, John Page Aldrich and niece, Elizabeth Lee Aldrich Rouse.
After early schooling, Wray attended Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for his "rat" year. He graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, on Jan. 19, 1943, with a Bachelor of Science degree. He also graduated from the Army Comptrollership School at Syracuse University in 1957 with a Master of Business Administration.
Wray served as an officer in the Signal and Field Artillery Corps of the U.S. Army. He led troops in Okinawa during WWII, as well as the Korean War. Later he and his wife lived in Korea and Japan for several years. He graduated from the Army Field Artillery School and U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, among other schools.
He trained at Fort Bliss, Texas, in what is now known as Air Defense Artillery and then served in Ansbach, Germany, as Commander of the first Hawk Missile Battalion in Europe, and also in Heidelberg, Germany. While at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Wray was an author and instructor, Department of Joint Combined and Special Operations, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Specifically, he authored a special text on war gaming.
After Army retirement, Wray served as a Comptroller at both Continental Can Company and International Telephone and Telegraph, both in New York City. During this time, Wray, Nina and their family lived in Darien, Conn., for 18 years. During this time, he remained actively involved in recruiting for West Point.
During early retirement, Wray commuted to Vermont where he was professor and head of the business department at the College of St. Joseph, a private, residential college in Rutland. Busy in later retirement, Wray and Nina moved back to Shelly in Gloucester, where he continued to give back to the community in which he was raised. Wray founded the Page-Nelson Society of Virginia. Both he and Nina volunteered at The Rosewell Foundation and were members of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) and the local fine arts group. Due to his vast knowledge and exceptional memory, Wray was a popular speaker on Gloucester and Middle Peninsula Virginia history.
Wray remained actively involved in West Point and VMI alumni activities. Wray was a lifelong member of Abingdon Episcopal Church and often attended St. James Anglican Church, also in Gloucester. During his military service he served as a lay reader for the Episcopal service in military chapels.
The family received friends from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Andrews Funeral Home, 7192 Main Street, Gloucester. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 21, at Abingdon Episcopal Church, 4645 George Washington Memorial Highway, Hayes. A reception will be held immediately following the funeral. A chapel service and graveside burial will be conducted later at Arlington National Cemetery in Alexandria, Va.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Rosewell Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 1456, Gloucester, Va. 23061 804-693-2585 or www.rosewell.org.