GAILEY, HARRY AND ROSALIE (BRAY)

by Rosalle Bray Gailley

Entry F153 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

The Brays 1950 Rosalie, Leah, Leonard.

I was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on Jan-
uary 5, 1924, while my parents, Leah (Simp-
son) and Leonard A. Bray, were living in
Broken Bow. When I was four years old, my
family moved to Mullen where my father was
the regional overseer of the Nebraska state
highway. I graduated as valedictorian of my
high school class in May 1941, and by
September 1, 23 had moved to Long Beach,
California.

California indeed proved to be a land of
opportunity for us, and my parents were
certainly not without friends. After attending
the All States Picnic, it was evident that large
numbers of former Nebraskans were now
living in California. I very soon enrolled at
Long Beach Junior College. After a year, I
decided to quit school for the time being and
I got a job as a clerk at Signal Hill Elementary
School. A few months later I read in the
newspaper that California Institute of Tech-
nology was offering an intensive course, in
conjunction with Douglas Aircraft Company,
for draftsman. Not even knowing what a
draftsman was, I applied and was accepted
into the first class. On completion, I was
assigned as an engineering draftsman at
Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach. it
was there that I met Harry Gailey who had
taken a later class and was assigned to my
department where we originally had to share
the same drafting board. My good friend,
Shirley Gibson, had also come to California
and was working at Douglas, and in 1945 we
decided we should join the W.A.V.E.S. We
applied and I was immediately accepted.
After having worked for two years at Douglas,
I was soon in the Navy and served in the
Separation Center in Washington, D.C. after
boot camp at Hunter College in new York
City. At the same time, my friend Harry
served in the Army Airforce. My sister, Dixie,
married Dwight Wilson in 1946 and they had
two children. She is presently married to
Mick Lukan and lives in Monrovia, Califor-
nia.

I attended U.C.L.A. after my discharge
from the service, graduating in 1950 with a
degree in Business Administration. After
college I worked in a medical office and later
in the cost accounting department for Johns
Manville. On June 17, 1951, Harry Gailey and
I were married, and we lived for the next five
years in Veterans Housing while he attended
U.C.L.A., receiving his Ph.D. in History in
early 1958. Our first three daughters-Lau-
rel, Karen, and Nancy - were born during
this time. Harry received his first teaching
position at Northwest Missouri State College
in Maryville, Missouri, where Richard and
Jennifer were born. After five years back int
he mid-west, we movedto Los Gatos, Califor-
nia, when Harry began his teaching career at
San Jose State College, now a University.

Although I doubt if I would ever want to
live anyplace but in Northern California, I
remember fondly my early years growing up
in Mullen. I especially remember frequent
summer visits to the Middle Loup River. On
a visit back to Mullen after having been gone
several years, the river did not seem to be
nearly as large as I had remembered. As a
matter of fact, I was surprised that my
mother had let us girls go swimming in it! Also
I remember the good times the whole gang
had in the evenings after dinner, playing
games out under a street light, and the 8:30
sounding of the curfew which signaled it was
time to go home. I also like to amuse my
children by telling them how I had to walk
to school in the winter through the driving
wind and snow!

After World War II ended, Dad went to
work for the Bellflower Unified School
District, and he retired in 1960. Throughout
the years my parents made several trips back
to Mullen to visit old friends. On one such
trip in 1968, Mother died in Kansas City,
Missouri, of a heart attack on October 7, 1968.
She was 79 years old. Dad lived to be 88 years
old although afflicted with emphysema in his
last few years. He died on December 11, 1983.
One thing most people remember about Dad
was his good nature and his hearty laugh.