Colonel (retired) Malcolm A. Gray, aka Malicious Mal the boxer, loving husband of Beverly A. Gray (Brown) (deceased), passed away quietly at the Perley Health Centre on the morning of 23 June 2023 with his loving daughter Catherine Hughes and son Brian Gray by his side. He is survived by his two children Catherine Hughes (Simon Hughes) and Brian Gray (Sylvia Wong), along with his five grandchildren Amara, Jackson, Ethan, Wyatt, and Reid along with nephew Philip Rhotla (Shannon McLaren). Malcolm is predeceased by his other son Jim Gray.
Malcolm was a devoted husband who advocated and provided dedicated care for his aged mother and his wife Beverly, who lived with Multiple Sclerosis for some 35 years. He also spent many volunteer hours on the board the Ottawa Chapter of the MS Society and was a leading individual fundraiser year after year. His Alta Vista neighborhood will remember fondly his fundraising rounds where he would encourage their contributions by offering them a bottle of his homemade wine. Whether this tactic increased or decreased his fund raising, based on the quality of his homemade juice, shall remain a mystery.
A military man, taking after his father, Malcolm was very proud of his 38 years of service in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as an aeronautical engineer. He contributed to both the CF-18 and CP-140 (Aurora) projects in important ways and was always pleased to note how successful these capabilities had been in service to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) over their many years.
For fun, Malcolm was a golfing and curling enthusiast, especially if there was bagpipe music blaring from his Del Sol convertible on the way to the course or rink! In his later years he became an avid remote control plane builder and flyer, even garnering a winning builder prize at a big show in the USA.
Socially, Malcolm considered himself a bit of a storyteller and loved the chance to tell his stories whenever and wherever he could find an audience. His audience was most often his immediate family, so eventually it got to the point where his family were all pretty much able to finish his stories for him, verbatim. It is his stories, his pre-dinner Manhattan drink ritual and his listening to bag pipe music, with the top down on his favorite car, that shall be dearly missed along with the man himself.
Friends are invited to visit the Hall of Colours of the Beechwood National Memorial Centre, 280 Beechwood Ave., Ottawa, ON K1L 8A6, on Thursday June 29 from 12:00 noon, until 2:00p.m. A private family interment will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of your choice. Many thanks to the exceptional staff at the Perley for their compassionate care. Special thanks to Ma Campbell for encouraging Malcolm to walk the halls of the Perley sharing his stories along the way. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Perley Health.
Digital Guestbook
Merriol (née Baring-Gould) and Douglas Almond
Merriol Baring-Gould Almond
My husband and I and our family send our condolences and love to your family. What an extraordinary, deeply caring man.
Beth and David Halfkenny
Extending our condolences to Catherine, Brian and the extended Gray-Hughes family. We had the pleasure of knowing Col Gray for almost three decades and enjoyed his company though many of the best times and the occasional less happy ones. Through them all, many good memories and lessons were drawn. Above all else, his example taught everyone fortunate enough to glimpse behind the curtain, what unconditional love looked like through his complete devotion to Beverley. Selflessly dedicated to her care over many years, also yielded lessons in putting one’s money where their mouths were through his many years of dedicated service in support MS awareness and fundraising. Col Gray had a tremendous knack of the segue, the ability to leverage virtually any aspect of conversation to create opportunity for a short story about College days, golfclub making or remote-controlled airplane building and piloting. Always interesting and often most informative, we will remember Col Gray as a good man and occasionally a curious man at the same time. Rest in peace, Malcolm.
I wish we had had more time enjoying our contacts with your branch of the B-G family and had done better at keeping in touch . Lew Trenchard is being looked after by our son Douglas Junior with help from Doug Senior. I have severe spinal stenosis and at 86 am rather frail but with the aid of good professional management we have kept things in as good shape as possible with regular visits twice a year as has we have done since my father’s death in 1972. We know there are many family members, neighbors, tenants and friends who care about it as we do.