Oscar Lee Gray

O.L. Gray (July 2, 1865 – January 2, 1936) was a U.S. Representative from Alabama.

Born in Mississippi, Congressman O.L. Gray attended school in Choctaw County. He studied law and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1885 and was admitted to the Alabama bar. Gray taught school and served as Superintendent of Education for Choctaw County. He served as solicitor for the First Judicial Circuit 1904-1910 and was a delegate to the 1912 Democratic National Convention.

Gray was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1919). O.L. Gray served on the Rivers and Harbors Committee and was the first Congressman to sign the World War I Declaration of War. His 1918 re-election campaign materials boast of his relationship with and support for U.S. President Woodrow Wilson:

"He Stood by the President All the Time Let's all Stand by Him this Time."

After serving in Congress he returned to the Gray Plantation in Butler, Alabama and resumed the practice of law and in November 1934 was elected Judge of the Alabama First Judicial Circuit Court.

He died January 2, 1936 in Shreveport, Louisiana home to his daughter and son-in-law (Dr. and Mrs. Broox Cleveland Garrett) and grandchildren (Betty Gray Garrett and Broox C. Garrett, Jr.). Congressman Gray is interred next to his widow Laura Lee Gray, daughter Bess Gray Garrett and her husband Broox C. Garrett and Dr. Leroy Vogel in Forest Park Cemetery in Shreveport.

Notable heirs:

• Dr. Betsy Vogel Boze, President, The College of The Bahamas (granddaughter of Bess Gray Garrett)
• Namesake, Lee Gray Boze, National Park Service (son of Betsy Vogel Boze)

References

• United States Congress. "Oscar Lee Gray (id: G000401)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.