Johnnie Bray

On Friday, January 2nd, 2015, Johnnie Newton Bray went home to be with Jesus.
Mr. Bray was born in the New Friendship Community of Chester County on April 12, 1915, to Rev. Albert Lee and Mary Algie Pearce Bray. He attended school at Bray’s School House and grew up in a home where hymns and gospel music were written, sung and played. His most-loved original composition was the song “One of These Days,” which expressed comfort in knowing that “one of these days I’m going home, to be with Jesus ‘round the throne, where no sickness, pain or death will be known.”
After serving in the United States Air Force in WWII, Johnnie married Pattie Hodges from the Jacks Creek Community on May 20, 1944. Mr. and Mrs. Bray were married for 65 years. Mrs. Bray died on November 6, 2009.
Mr. Bray was widely known in Henderson and the surrounding communities for a lifetime of expertly skilled craftsmanship with wood, with meticulous attention to detail in his highly regarded cabinet work. He worked for Jess Harris and then Raymond Johnson & Son Contractors for many years, building and renovating homes for a living.
In addition to his longstanding commitment to his employers, “Mr. Johnnie,” as he was affectionately known, gave generously of his time and mechanical skills to friends and neighbors in need, always willing to do whatever it took to get a repair job done to the best of his ability. Traces of his work are left in innumerable homes, churches, commercial buildings and schools in the area.
Mr. Bray was a lifelong amateur radio operator, known to his fellow ham radio friends around the world as WA4UJL. He took special interest in using his radio to run “phone patches,” giving foreign missionaries a chance to speak on the telephone to their loved ones back home.
First Baptist Church in Henderson was a central part of Mr. Bray’s life, having been made a Life Deacon, and spending years of his life leading music and singing in the choir. He took special care in donating his woodworking and mechanical skills to the church and was a beloved man to all who knew of his steadfast commitment there.
Mr. Bray is survived by his daughter, Patricia Bray Miner (Charles E.); granddaughter Lee Ann Elinski (Michael) and grandson Christopher Charles Miner (Amanda); great grandchildren Grace Ann, Michael Charles, Zachary Bray and Eli Stephen Elinski, all of Jackson, Mississippi, and Charles Sparks and Pinkney Bray Miner of Memphis, Tennessee.
In addition to his parents and wife, he was preceded in death by brothers Edgar Estes and William Franklin Bray and sister Ruby Lee Bray. Pallbearers are Larry Bray, Danny Hodges, Phillip Hodges, Brent Hodges, Christopher Miner and James Webb.