George Wray

George Wray, 93, of Ft Lauderdale, FL passed away on Monday, March 17, 2025.

George Wray was born July 10, 1931, to George Marcus and Anabel Moriarty Wray in Evanston, Illinois. He was the second child of a family of six. He is predeceased by his brothers Marcus and Robert. He is survived by his daughter Lisa, married to John Degnan, and their son John Anthony of Denver, Colo., as well as his son David, married to Jayme-Lee, and their daughter, Annalisa of Atlanta, Georgia. They are left with wonderful memories of and adventures with their unique father and grandfather. 

Sisters Anne Bradley and Jane Ryan, both of Darien, Ct. and his youngest brother Daniel, Hollywood, Florida survive him.

George was a talented, globe-trotting attorney practicing law in Florida, Washington DC and American Samoa. He started his adult life after finishing his studies at Loyola Academy in Chicago by entering as a Jesuit Novitiate in Milford, Ohio. George then went on to finish his education at the University of Detroit, Duke University, and finally earned a law degree from the University of Chicago. 

After graduating and passing both the Illinois and Washington D.C. bar exams, he was brought into the senate minority council personally by the late Sen. Barry Goldwater. Subsequently, he accepted a position at the prestigious law firm Rhyne & Rhyne, in Washington D.C. In Washington he became very involved in legislative processes ultimately developing The Congressional Monitor to track bills and news through congress. 

In the early 1960s, while on a fateful business trip to Australia, George’s flight diverted into American Samoa. There he found a constitutional case he couldn’t refuse. He asked his DC firm for leave from his duties to defend a Samoan citizen who was wrongfully incarcerated without warrant. While there, he discovered a paradise. A paradise of geography, culture, and of people. He would call Samoa home for more than 20 years and fell in love with a community that he would uplift and champion for the rest of his life. 

In the early 1970’s, George bought a small Piper Cherokee SIX on floats and began the only air service in the Samoan territory. This little Cherokee aircraft became known to locals as the paopao lele or “Flying Canoe”. That air service quickly grew to become South Pacific Island Airways, a regional airline connecting Samoa not only to neighboring island nations, but to Tahiti, Tonga, Fiji, Hawaii, and beyond. 

In 1984, George suffered a swimming accident in Kailua, Hawaii rendering him paralyzed from the neck down. Yet despite this life-changing event, unable to work and live as he had previously, he would demonstrate the real lesson of his life from that point on. The power of perseverance, positive thinking, and humility allowed him to turn what doctors predicted to be 5 years of life into over 40. And in that time, he continued to travel the entire globe with his family. He was an adjunct professor for Nova Southeastern University in his late 70’s, the author of “The Becoming Years” at the young age of 84, and a legal consultant well into his 90’s. Though a father of two, he was a father figure to many, and he never stopped defending and representing the people of Samoa.

George Wray’s life was lived…in full.

The graveside service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church Cemetery, 3871 Betsy Kerrison Parkway, Johns Island, SC 29455. 

A celebration of life will be planned to allow friends and family the world over to attend this summer. For more information please contact David at goawray@yahoo.com.

Expressions of sympathy may be viewed or submitted online at mcalister-smith.com.

Arrangements have been entrusted to McAlister-Smith Funeral and Cremation, 2501 Bees Ferry Road, Charleston, SC 29414 (843) 722-8371.