1928 – 2016

AUBURN — Arlene E. “Lisa” Gray, 87, a resident of Poland, passed away Wednesday, March 9, at the Hospice House in Auburn.

She was born April 13, 1928, in Portland, the daughter of Emile and Louise (Carlisle) Dahlbeck. She attended Auburn schools and graduated from Edward Little High School in 1946. During the war years, she did volunteer service at New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn. She received her nurse’s certificate from Central Maine General Hospital in Lewiston. In 1949, she received her bachelor’s degree at Peter Bent Brigham School of Nursing, in Boston, Mass., for theory and practice in the school of nursing. In 1956, she was a graduate of Villanova University in Villanova, Pa., where she received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and worked and taught nursing in several hospitals in Philadelphia, Pa. Lisa went on to receive her master’s degree in education in 1973 at Temple University, in Philadelphia.

Lisa worked as a schoolteacher in the public school system in the Philadelphia area for several years, and later retired as chief editor for the Merck Medical Manual. On April 3, 2009, in Lewiston, she married Bruce Gray of Monmouth; they enjoyed seven glorious years together. She enjoyed painting, braiding rugs, photography, traveling and going out to eat. She was a member of the Androscoggin Land Trust, serving as secretary and photographer.

She is survived by her husband, Bruce Gray of Poland; stepsons, Stephen Gray and his companion, Katrina, of Leeds, Bruce Gray of Florida, Casey Gray and his wife, Heather, of Dixfield, and Tracy Gray and wife, Marcia, of Monmouth; stepdaughters, Cindy Gray of Gloucester, Mass., and Julie Berthorf and her husband, Rickie, of Middleton, N.Y.; 23 step-grandchildren; several step-great-grandchildren; and several cousins.

She was predeceased by her parents.

Messages of condolence may be sent to www.finleyfuneralhome.com.