Lisa Gray, a lively presence inside The Washington Times building and a vital link to Times readers from the early days of the newspaper, died Oct. 11, 2022, in Waldorf, Maryland. She was 60.
A 1980 graduate of Surrattsville High School in Clinton, Maryland, and a journalism major at the University of Delaware, Ms. Gray joined The Washington Times as a production coordinator in February 1989, just seven years after the paper’s founding. Over the next three decades, she would go on to become a major subscriber advocate and customer liaison while holding down a number of jobs within the Circulation Department.
Except for a brief period in 2008 through 2010, she would remain with the company for the rest of her working life, holding positions as a budget manager, circulation planner and circulation systems analyst.
Co-workers remembered her as a fierce advocate for the paper and a bubbly, outsized personality in the cubicles and corridors of the company’s main Washington, D.C., headquarters building on New York Avenue NE.
“Lisa was one of a kind,” recalled Adam VerCammen, The Times’ senior director for digital strategy and audience development. “She was this perfect blend of family and heart, and gave everything she had to The Washington Times. We have lost a family member.”
Fellow employees called her a one-woman team-building department, promoting camaraderie in the office while carrying out her many duties with flair. A lover of all holidays but especially Halloween, Ms. Gray would meticulously plan her own costume and “persuade” fellow members of the Circulation Department to dress up as well and parade through the executive suites.
The Washington Times “was her life, her passion,” her sister Kathryn Yurkanin said. “She loved writing, loved being creative, loved being at a news organization. When she first got hired, it meant the world to her, and I don’t think she ever seriously considered working anywhere else.”
Ms. Yurkanin said that it was through The Times that Ms. Gray began a long association with Rolling Thunder, the advocacy group for American POWs and service members who are missing in action. She served as a volunteer with the group, which for decades staged its motorcycle “Ride for Freedom” through the streets of Washington on the Sunday before Memorial Day.
Elizabeth “Lisa” Gray was born on Dec. 9, 1961, in Camden, New Jersey, to Anthony Whitford Gray Jr. and Jane Elizabeth (nee Prince) Gray. As the daughter of a naval officer and the oldest of three children, she spent her youth relocating to different bases including Charleston, South Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia; and the Panama Canal Zone, before the family settled in Clinton.
Throughout her life, Ms. Gray was a talented writer and enjoyed composing poems, plays and short stories. She loved music, movies and game nights with friends. In her earlier years, she was an avid bowler, and in addition to her volunteer work with Rolling Thunder, she was a longtime member of the choir at Joint Base Andrews’ Catholic parish.
In addition to her parents and her sister Kathryn, Ms. Gray is survived by a second sister, Annmarie Amaral; nieces Ashley Elizabeth Wright (Kyle) and Alexandra Marie Yurkanin; nephew Michael Gerard Amaral (Colby); and great-niece Blake Harper Wright.
A celebration of life will be held for Ms. Gray at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, at Lee Funeral Home, 6633 Old Alexandria Ferry Rd., in Clinton. A visitation is to be followed by a memorial service at 2 p.m. All are welcome.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that friends remember Ms. Gray’s life and work by donating to the American Heart Association in her name.
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