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Salvador Dali's painting of The Last Supper was unveiled, Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
January-
Grandpa William Nieman (1886-1958)'s 69th birthday.
31: Glenna Claussen (1940-)'s birthday.
Alice (Deisner)/Mrs. Melvin Gray's birthday.
February-
2: Vince Gray (1948-)'s 7th birthday.
8: James Dean (1931-1955)'s 24th birthday. See September 30. Dean played Saint John in a television special called Hill Number One. Although he made only 3 major movies, he was nominated for best actor in two of them:
Rebel Without a Cause and Elia Kazan's film of John Steinbeck's East of Eden, both of which he made in 1955. Dean's 3rd movie, Giant, based on Edna Ferber's novel, was released in 1956, and starred Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. It was one of Ceil Gray's favorite movies.
10: Long Day's Journey Into Night won the Pulitzer Prize, it was published
posthumously, as Eugene O'Neill wished.
Perez Prado's song Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White was popular.
26: E.J. Haidusek (1944-)'s 11th birthday. Philip Edward Gray died after an operation to correct hydrocephalus (too much water on the brain); he burst a bloodvessel. This was at Wharton County Hospital in Houston, Texas.
The Gray children stayed with Haiduseks, Bartas, etc. When Philip died, Mr. Haidusek drove to Wharton to help Bob and Ceil and make arrangements for the funeral. See Puppy Dog Tales>
A Man Called Peter film of Catherine Marshall's biography of her
husband.
27: Sunday, Bobby Gray (1945-)'s 10th birthday, Sara Gray (1953-)'s 2nd birthday.
Elizabeth Taylor (1931-)'s 24th birthday.
Popular Songs:
Que Sera, Sera by Doris Day and I hear You Knocking by Gale Storm; The Yellow Rose of Texas by Mitch Miller & Chorus; Love and Marriage by Frank Sinatra from the movie version of Thornton Wilder's Our Town.
March-
1: Funeral of Saint Philip Gray (1954-55) was held in the auditorium on the second floor above Saint Michael's School. The sisters said that Cecilia and Bobby could go home after the funeral. Monsignor Drozd came over to the house and a lot of friends brought food for the family. Saint Michael's Church was being renovated, cleaned, and refurbished and the pulpit was removed.
Ceil Gray had a stillborn son this year who was buried with Philip at Saint Michael's cemetery in the children's section.
Philip's grave is marked but there is no reference to the second baby.
This gravesite was maintained by Philip's godparents, Edwin and Frances
Haidusek.
Grandpa Robert Gray's birthday.
Oscars: Best Picture, and Best Actor went to Marty, starring Ernest Borgnine.
Other popular films: Davy Crockett became a national fad with coon skin caps
selling like hotcakes. The Lennon Sisters made Lawrence Welk more popular than ever.
April-
10: Easter Sunday.
Pope Pius XII published his Papal Encyclical Musicae Sacrae (Sacred Music).
May-
29: Saint Marcellinus Champagnat (1789-1840 was beatified by Pope Pius XII. He was canonized in 1999.
June-
Lionel Gray's 20th birthday.
Sadie Gray's birthday.
@22: Ceil gray pregnant with Timothy.
July-
Doris Day popularized the song Love Me or Leave Me from the movie with James Cagney.
16: Gabriel Roy Cavarrubias was born.
17: Cecilia Gray (1942-)'s 13th birthday.
Disneyland opened near Anaheim, California. Cousin Mae (Dixon) Williams' son, Bob Williams (1920-), who originally worked for Ball Nurseries, worked on landscaping and planting the gardens at Disneyland.
August-
29: Ceil (Nieman) Gray's Aunt Lou (Anna Louise Nieman)/Mrs. Arthur Butler died in East Saint Louis, Illinois.
30: Ceil and Bob Gray's 14th wedding anniversary (1941).
September-
11: Ceil (Nieman) Gray (1920-91)'s 35th birthday.
14: Melvin Gray's birthday.
21: Darlene Ann Gray (1930-)'s 25th birthday.
30: 5:45 pm- James Byron Dean died in a car crash at Salinas, California.
October-
29: Ceil (Nieman)/Mrs. Bob Gray's mother, Sarah Mary (Dixon) Nieman (1889-1955), died in Alton, Illinois, in the sanatorium. It is believed that she had Alzheimer's disease.
November-
December-
4: Bob Gray (1917-78)'s 38th birthday.
25: Christmas Day.
31: Candace "Candy" Halbrook-Grasse was born to Ken and Mary Ann (Claussen) Halbrook in East Saint Louis, Illinois.