- Date Of Birth: April 1, 1929
- Date Of Death: October 3, 2015
- State: North Carolina
Reidsville, NC
Mr. William Waynick Bray, of 1311 Brookwood Drive, died October 3, 2015 at Avante Center in Reidsville following several years of declining health and the complications of Parkinson’s disease.
Bill was born April 1, 1929 to Silas Adams and Jessie Waynick Bray, the second of three sons. He grew up in the Williamsburg community of Rockingham County and was graduated from Reidsville High School in 1947. At RHS, Bill was a member of the Golden Lions football team, including the 1945 state champions.
Bill served in the United States Army during the Korean War and was a proud 1954 graduate of North Carolina State University, where he earned his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering. He worked for Duke Power after college and later earned his masters degree from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Bill married Mae Yarbrough at Locust Hill United Methodist Church on December 17, 1955, and they moved to Reidsville, where he went to work at the North Carolina Gas Company. When Rockingham Community College opened in Wentworth in 1966, Bill joined the original faculty and taught in the vocational studies department until his retirement in 1989.
Until his health prevented it, Bill planted a huge garden from which he fed his family, friends and neighbors. With varying degrees of fondness, Mae and the children recall many summer hours spent planting, hoeing, picking, peeling, shucking, snapping, canning and freezing the fruits of his labor.
When the children were growing up, Bill volunteered with the Boy Scouts, serving alongside Roy Stallings Jr. as an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 789, cooking lots of stews with his good friend Lincoln Overby and going on many camp outs as well. He drove car pools, went on school field trips, helped with Girl Scout activities and attended wrestling meets, tennis matches, piano recitals, band and chorus concerts and anything else his children were involved in.
After the children were grown and in his retirement years, Bill volunteered and served on the board of the Reidsville Soup Kitchen. He and Mae also delivered Meals on Wheels. He joined the “retirement clubs” that met each morning at Oscar Haynes’ TV and Appliance Store and Reidsville Oil Company.
As a card-carrying member of the Wolfpack Club, Bill loyally supported NC State and rooted for the Pack through good times and bad. He enjoyed watching all college sports, the Atlanta Braves and the Carolina Panthers.
Bill was a longtime and faithful member of First United Methodist Church (now known as Mission First of Woodmont UMC), where he was active in the Methodist Men, ushered, cooked stews, served on the Administrative Board and was a delegate to Annual Conference at Lake Junaluska. He and Mae later joined First Congregational Christian Church, where he was part of the Men’s Fellowship (the Lodge). Bill particularly enjoyed helping with the food pantry ministry of the Men’s Fellowship.
Bill was predeceased by his parents, his brothers Jack and Joe, and Joe’s wife Frances. He is survived by Mae, his wife of 59 years, and their five children: Emily Jo and husband Daryl Gibbs of Spartanburg, SC; Jack Waynick and wife Lill of Maryville, TN; Anna Kathryn and husband Alan Winesett of Hickory; Susan Elizabeth of Greensboro; and David William and wife Andrea of Clemmons. He also leaves twelve grandchildren: Amy Gibbs and husband Kerim Elsherif, and Chris Gibbs; Dr. Kathryn Bray and husband Zach Sawyer, Joe Bray, Daniel Bray and Jimmy Bray; Aaron Winesett, Thomas Winesett, Lucy Winesett and Grace Winesett; and Amelia Bray and Norah Bray.
The family would like to thank the staff and management of Avante at Reidsville for their care and concern throughout Bill’s illness.
