Shirley LaVon (Helget) Bray, passed away Monday, April 19, 2010, at her home in Big Piney, WY with her children lovingly at her side. She was born May 6, 1932, in Wiggins, Colorado, to Lawrence J. & Iris M. Helget. Shirley grew up in the Adena community, where her parents worked on a cattle and sheep operation, and she also ran the Adena Store and Post Office. She attended a small, one room country school and then attended Fort Morgan High School, where she graduated from in 1949. Following graduation, her father was unable to find a ranch hand so Shirley stayed home to help her dad on the ranch. In 1953, Shirley started college at CSU in Fort Collins and graduated in 1957 with a degree in animal husbandry. She went on to get her masters degree in education at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. She began teaching in the fall of 1957 at the Shamrock School, southeast of Adena. She taught there until the summer of 1961, when she accepted a teaching contract at the Big Piney, Wyoming, elementary school. Shirley taught 3rd grade in Big Piney for several years with her future mother-in-law, Helen Bray. She married Frank Bray in December, 1962 at the Presbyterian Church in Fort Morgan, CO. Frank and Shirley made their home in Big Piney where she continued to teach until she and Frank were blessed with three children. Shirley continued to be a substitute teacher and helped her husband with his trucking business until 1987. In the late 1980's Shirley became the Director of the Big Piney Senior Center, where she thoroughly enjoyed working with the seniors and made many longtime friends. In the spring of 1994, the Brays retired to a small alfalfa farm near Snyder, CO, until Frank's death in 2001. Missing her many friends and family, Shirley returned to Big Piney in 2002. She enjoyed spending time with her friends, family, sewing, cooking, and helping others. Survivors include her mother, Iris Helget of Big Piney, WY; two brothers, Rich Huhman and his wife, Joanna, of Longmont, CO, and Ray Hanson and his wife, Elva, of Brush; her children, Bartie Bray of Big Piney, WY, Shelly Bray of Arvada, CO, and Barbara Griggs, and her husband, Mark, of Big Piney, WY; and four grandchildren, Addison Milleg, Brett and Blade Bray, and Katie Griggs. She was preceded in death by her husband, Frank, and her father, Lawrence. Cremation has taken place and a memorial service will be held at the Big Piney Senior Center on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. Inurnment will be in the Brush Memorial Cemetery on Saturday, May 1, 2010, at 1:30 PM. The Covill Funeral Home in Pinedale, WY is in charge of services in Wyoming and the Heer & Dahl Mortuary is entrusted with the graveside services in Brush. Friends who wish may make memorial gifts to the St. John's Medical Center Oncology Dept, 625 E. Broadway in Jackson, WY 83001; Kickin' Cancer, Box 687 in Pinedale, WY 82941, or to the South Sublette County Pioneers (Senior Center), Box 33, Big Piney, WY 83113.