Levona (Willard) Bray

Married to Joe Bray. Daughter of Amy (Dungey) Willard.

A letter from Mimaline, Amy’s niece on Archie’s side that George connected with on Ancestry.com:

“George,
I don’t know how much I can tell you that you don’t know about the family [Amy and Archie]. After college I married and lived in California for quite a while. I had lost track of the Salem family during that time. I did see them after I came back to Oregon but not very often because I was working and raising four children. I can give you the basics of the family and maybe a story or two that won’t show up in Ancestry.

When Archie was a young man he and some friends went to a dance in Coos Bay. When he came home he told his family, “I’ve met the girl I’m going to marry.” That was Amy and sure enough they did get married. Life was not always roses. Archie drank too much for a while and Amy had a red-head’s temper. They would have a fight and she would leave him and come to stay with his sisters. I can remember her living with us for about a month one time. Then Archie would come and get her and all would be well. I learned this from my mother since I was too young to know what adults were up to.

Archie left home first when he was around fourteen. He had many different jobs and learned to set tile. He taught both his brothers tile setting and Uncle Ed had a tile business in Salem and Uncle Ebe had one in Arizona.

He and Amy went to Canada after they married but things didn’t work out up there. Levona was born in Vancouver. They moved south and lived in Texas, Arizona and California. I was told that Amy had several miscarriages and I do know there was one other child born in Arizona that did not live.

Levona married Joe Hampton Bray 3 Nov 1934 in Salem. they had one son, Jerry Brooks Bray, born 26 Mar 1939. Joe had black hair and Levona’s was auburn. Jerry had black hair until you saw it in the sunlight and you could see all the red hairs that were mixed in. He was a real estate salesman.

Jerry married Terry Ann Greene on 8 Feb 1965 and had two children, Todd Hampton Bray, born 18 Sep 1965, and Amy Michelle Bray, born 16 Nov 1967. Jerry and Terry were divorced on 26 Jun 1972 and the children went to live with their mother who later remarried.

Jerry died suddenly on 16 Oct 1973. He was visiting his father and they were just sitting chatting when all of a sudden he was gone. I believe I was told it was a heart attack. Jerry’s son, Todd, died 27 July 1890 at age 24 of a cancerous brain tumor. He spent a lot of time with Levona and they became very close.

I didn’t see Amy [Levona] again until Levona [Amy] was in her nineties and beginning to suffer from senility. Amy [Levona] was living in the Portland area at the time and she found a place in Eagle Creek to care for Levona [Amy].

Levona died 20 Oct 2008. When Amy [young Amy] was 19 she had a little girl, Whitney Blayne Bray.

Later she married Timothy M. Beard and had three more daughters, McKenzie, Alexandria and Isabelle.

They now live in the Kaiser area of Salem. She is in Facebook as Amy Beard. Not very many family pictures, though. I haven’t seen her since Levona’s funeral. I don’t think she ever knew much about our side of the family. I have a couple of photos I’ll send you as soon as I figure out this new e-mail I’m using.

I expect this is enough to keep you busy for a while. – Mim”