User:FloNight/Lois Howard Gray

Lois Howard Gray (September 20,1920–March 19, 2012) was an American business women who founded Gray Construction in 1960 with her husband James Norris Gray. After her husband's death in 1972, Gray kept the business open despite it being uncommon at the time for a woman to run a construction company. In 2002, Gray was honored as the National Business Woman Owner of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners. In 2013, Gray was posthumously inducted into the Kentucky Women Remembered Hall of Fame.

Early life and education
Lois Howard was born on September 20, 1920 in Glasgow, KY to Carl Clifford Howard and Julia Franklin Howard.

Gray earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and English from Transylvania University. She studied fine arts at the University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University, and attended Vanderbilt University Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee where she earned a Master of Arts degree in art education.

During World War II, she served in WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) of the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946.

Gray Construction
In 1960, Gray with her husband, James Norris Gray, founded Gray Construction Company in Glasgow, Kentucky.

Death and legacy
Gray died in 2012 of Alzheimer's Disease. In 2013, Gray was posthumously inducted in to Kentucky Women Remembered Hall of Fame.