- Date Of Birth: October 18, 1921
- Date Of Death: December 17, 2020
- State: Colorado
Anna Wray
October 18, 1921 – December 17, 2020 (age 99)
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Anna was the eldest daughter of Adam and Luisa Gobl Deschu, who had come to the United States from Romania. She attended Southeast Missouri State Teachers College in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and obtained a B.S. degree in Elementary Education. While in college, she met her future husband, Ruby Wray Jr., also a St. Louis native. When they were married on April 22, 1944, Anna was teaching Fourth Grade at Fairview Elementary School and Ruby was on leave from the Army. After his discharge from the Army, Anna and Ruby lived in St. Louis where both taught school until Ruby took a job with AMSCO. They moved to Los Angeles when Ruby was transferred by AMSCO; their children Suzanne and Michael were born in California. After another transfer by AMSCO, they were in Denver, Colorado, where their third child, Diane, was born. Later transfers moved the family to St. Louis, where Anna worked as a substitute teacher, then to Homewood, Illinois. Ruby took a job managing a factory in Paris, Illinois after he retired from Abex (the new name for AMSCO, which had been taken over by Illinois Central Industries), and Anna taught in the local school system there. She continued to teach in Carlinville, Illinois while Ruby taught in the Business Preparation Program at Blackburn College. After both retired, they moved to Denver, Colorado where their daughter Diane lives.
Anna and her late husband Ruby established a set of annual prizes to be awarded to outstanding students at Blackburn College, Carlinville, Illinois. The Anna Deschu Wray Prize in Elementary Education is awarded yearly to a graduating senior.
Anna is survived by children Suzanne, Michael, and Diane, and two grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Ruby Wray Jr., and sisters Louise “Babe” Phillips and Katharine “Kate” Marks.
