COLORADO SPRINGS — Odd as it may seem, Heather Gray felt she should be excited about her husband’s deployment to Afghanistan. Her husband had left home to do great things.
God, she said, moved her to feel this way.
“Looking at where we are now, a lot of people might say, clearly, I don’t hear God very well,” Gray said.
The opening prayer finished, Gray spoke first about her husband, Maj. Walter D. Gray. The Air Force officer died alongside two Fort Carson soldiers Aug. 8 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when suicide bombers attacked.
The attack also killed Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin, 45, and Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy, 35, both of the 4th Brigade Combat Team. They were on their way to a meeting with tribal leaders.
Her eyes watering, Heather Gray admitted questioning whether she heard God correctly.
“You know what? I still believe I heard him,” she said. “Because I really believe that something good is going to come out of this.”
Amid singing and prayer Saturday, hundreds of people at Chapel Hills Church mourned Gray, whom many knew as David.
Pictures of him flashed on a screen above his family and friends, many of them in their Air Force dress uniforms. One showed Gray in Boy Scouts, another holding a newborn baby while wearing a shirt that read “Dad.”
Others showed his family celebrating another promotion, a common practice for the man who first joined the Air Force as an enlisted airman in 1993. He earned his commission in 2001 after attending Charleston Southern University.
He most recently served with the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Carson.
As an air liaison officer, Gray helped coordinate air support for ground troops with Fort Carson’s 4th Brigade Combat Team.
He garnered nicknames almost as fast as he handed out orders.
Friends called him the “PT-ninja,” for his physical training regimen, and the “Polish-Korean redneck.” Some joked about his deep, Southern accent honed in a small town outside Atlanta.
“He was stylish, but I’m pretty sure that’s because Heather dressed him,” pastor Michael Fernihough said.
Gray’s one fashion faux pas? His workout shorts.
“That’s a little too much leg for heaven,” said Sam Bhatt, imitating Jesus’ reaction to Gray’s high risers.
But between the soft laughter, most remembered him for his deep faith and his love of being a father.
David and Heather — who were to celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary Aug. 11 — had three children, Nyah, Garrett and Ava.
“Your daddy was the bravest man I ever knew,” said Fernihough, turning to the children.
Their family nearly stopped growing after one child.
Her voice trembling, Heather remembered a training accident that nearly claimed Gray’s life — one that left her praying for one more chance with him. He survived with nothing more than a scar on his arm, she said.
And he lived seven more years — enough time for the couple to have two more children.
Her voice cracked.
“In the Bible, seven is the number of completion,” she said.
“And David’s life is complete now.”
