Linda Arline Gray

She was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a loving mother to seven children. Linda’s greatest loves were her family, grandchildren, and church. Linda has had a lifelong love of music and loved to share that music with others every Sunday.

She dedicated herself to her family and to serving the Lord. She started at a young age as a chorister for her church. A calling that she held throughout her life. She loved to plan the music for each Sunday to make sure it went along with the theme of each Sunday. She loved music and filled her home with music. She also performed in choirs and played the piano. She truly never met a person that she could not become friends with and would spend hours talking to people and getting to know them. She truly showed the Love of Christ in all that she did. Often reaching out to others in need.

She always enjoyed crafting with her children and always had either knitted or crocheted items that she was working on for others. Linda learned to knit and crochet from her grandmother and carried the skill throughout her life. She also loved teaching her children how to knit and crochet. She loved going to the craft stores and finding new patterns and new yarns to start a new project. Linda and her husband also shared a love of ceramics. They were often found at a ceramic shop selecting a new project, cleaning the pieces, painting, and creating pieces of art that she could share with others. Many of the pieces that Linda created were passed on to others. She seldom kept them for herself but used her skills to bless others.

Spring was one of her favorite times of the year. As the plants start to grow, you would often see her in her garden, planning and preparing the land for her new garden. Even though she moved constantly through her life, her love of lilacs moved with her to every house she lived in and after moving was soon planning where her new lilac bushes would go. She loved to get her hand's dirty planting and working in the garden, She also would regularly create a flower basket and gardens dropping them off for all her friends and family.

Linda’s dedication to her Savior was evident in all she did. She always knew she wanted to be sealed for time and all eternity in a Temple of the Lord and have a home that was strong in the gospel. On August 31, 1972, she was able to go to the LDS Oakland CA Temple and be sealed to her sweetheart, Merrill. Soon seven kids would follow and she raised her kids to love the gospel often sharing her testimony not just through her words but in her actions.

She loved to be a mom and a grandmother. Babies were one of her greatest blessings and loved to rock and cuddle with them. She loved to have all the kids at her house and have a home with lots of toys for the kids to play with. While also having treats for the kids to enjoy. She attended any and all games, plays, concerts, etc that she could. She was the greatest cheerleader.

Linda is survived by her husband of 50 years, Merrill Gray, five children, Sarah Michalenko (Ron), Jonathan Gray (Tamara), Christina Kuschke (Joe), Deborah Gray, and Elizabeth Gray, as well as fifteen grandchildren. Marilla, Jeremy, Andrew, LeeRoy, Parker, Rachel, Mitchell, Jared, Stevie, Grant, Aiden, Carson, Emmy, Eero, and Elsie. She was preceded in death by parents Melvin and Arline Petersen and her daughters Rachel Gray and Rebecca Rousseau.

Funeral Service will be Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 11:00 AM with Visitation one hour prior to service from 10:00 - 11:00 AM at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2140 Hadley Ave. N., Oakdale, MN 55128. Luncheon will follow the service at church. Private interment Ft. Snelling National Cemetery.