Eugene Harlan Ray

Eugene (“Gene”) Ray, 84, of College Station, passed away on Sunday, August 14, 2022, in Bryan. Life Tribute Service will begin at 10am, Tuesday, August 23, 2022, at A&M United Methodist Church with the Inurnment to follow at the Aggie Field of Honor. Cremation services are in the care of Callaway-Jones Funeral and Cremation Centers, Bryan-College Station.

Gene was born to Eugene Herbert and Nola Neill Ray, on August 27, 1937, in Abilene, Texas.
In September 1998, he became Director Emeritus of Grounds Maintenance at Texas A&M University in College Station, having served as Texas A&M’s Director of Grounds Maintenance from October 1973 until his retirement in February 1998. He had previously served as the university’s Assistant Landscape Architect from March 1973 to October 1973. He also served as Supervisor, Landscape and Grounds/Landscape Architect and Assistant Supervisor, Landscape and Grounds at the University of Oklahoma from 1964 to 1973. From 1960 to 1963, he owned his own nursery and greenhouse business in Levelland, Texas.

At Texas A&M, he led one of the largest grounds maintenance departments in the country, responsible for landscaping and grounds maintenance of over 5,500 acres and with approximately 125 employees. In the early 1980s, he was instrumental in designing a radio-controlled irrigation network that employed state-of-the-art technology with over 120 radio receivers to irrigate the Texas A&M campus. In recognition of the cost and water savings for Texas A&M, his Department of Grounds Maintenance received an Honorable Mention Award from the National Association of College and University Business Officers Cost Reduction Program. He received the 1984 Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Staff/Administration from Texas A&M University.

One of the highlights of his Texas A&M career was the opportunity to serve on the planning committee for the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Texas A&M. He was deeply involved in site planning and landscaping for the historic facility.

In 1960, he received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University), with a major in Horticulture and Park Management. He became a member of the Epsilon-Gamma Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha in February 1957. The highlight of his time at Texas Tech was meeting his future wife, Janet Jackson. He also met professor and lifelong mentor Robert Rucker, who he later joined on the landscape and grounds staff at OU and then at Texas A&M as Mr. Rucker’s hand-picked successor.

He was a registered landscape architect by the Texas State Board of Landscape Architects and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. He was also a member of the National Institute on Parks and Grounds Management and Professional Grounds Maintenance Society, and he previously served on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Horticulture Society and the Oklahoma Turfgrass Research Foundation.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Janet Jackson Ray; their children, Randall and husband Victor Ray, Melissa Ray, Douglas and wife Kimberly Ray; his grandchildren whom he deeply loved and were his pride and joy, Hart, Edan, Jarrod, Tanner, and Ryder. His parents, Herbert and Nola, predeceased him.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association to support research and cures for Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Express condolences at CallawayJones.com