Grey Huntingford Wyman Jr. joined his wife, Merle Howell Wyman in life eternal with God this day, leaving the rest of us richer for having known him and poorer for losing his presence in our lives.
Grey was born in 1922; graduated from Mercersburg Academy (where his father taught) and went to Brown University at the age of 16. Four years later, as World War II raged, he joined his older brother, Austin, in the Army Air Corps. When the war was over, Austin had been lost somewhere in the Pacific, his remains never found and his fate not known — while Grey had won the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Grey returned to Brown and graduated and went to work for Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner and Beane (at the time). He retired from that same company close to 40 years later.
Grey met Merle in Charleston, South Carolina. Raised on Johns Island, Merle was the antithesis of Grey's Yankee background — they married in 1963 in Tampa, Florida and were devoted to each other and their daughters - Pamela and Patricia - until Merle's untimely death of amyloidosis in 1985. They became part of our lives in 1967, shortly before Pamela's birth.
When I entered the ECUSA in college, I named Grey and Merle my godparents, as they had honored my mother and I in naming us as godmothers to Pamela and Patricia respectively. They filled an uncommon role in my life - they were my parents' peers, but they were always also friends to me.
Grey underwent triple bypass surgery in the early 1980s, making a full recovery just as Merle began to suffer from the disease that would kill her shortly. It was close to 20 years after his bypass before he reluctantly (at the age of 80+) gave up his annual skiing trips to Colorado and Utah with a group of other Merrill Lynchers self-titled "The Over The Hill Gang".
Suffering from congestive heart failure that gradually whittled his life down to the end, Grey fought valiantly with the faithful love and support of Pamela and Patricia and died peacefully today.
Another member of this country's Greatest Generation has left the battlefield of life.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy death didst take away the sting of death; Grant unto us thy servants so to follow in faith where thou hast led the way, that we at length may fall asleep peacefully in thee, and awake up after thy likeness; through thy mercy, who livest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen
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