The year was 1947, the United Nations partitioned Palestine into two sections, Britain's Princess Elizabeth married Duke Philip Mountbatten, and the Everglades National Park was established in Florida.

In Fayetteville, Ga., native son Huie L. Bray began a construction and real estate business he's still active in, 60 years later.

Bray was born June 3, 1925 in Fayette County. Son of Lawrence and Nellie White Bray, he was raised across from the New Hope Baptist Church.

Like many teens at the beginning of World War II, he was drafted into service, and served from 1943 to 1945 in the United States Navy.

He was sent to torpedo school and graduated in the top 20 class members before being shipped overseas to the Pacific Theatre to serve on a destroyer in New Guinea, the Philippines, Dutch East Indies, and Okinawa.

Bray served aboard the U.S.S. Nicholas, and was pleased to be on the ship chosen to carry the Japanese officials over to the U.S.S. Missouri for the country's surrender.

Upon returning home in January 1945 he took a trolley to Union City, where he had stored his car. To get home, he had to travel down Virginia Avenue to Ga. Highway 41 in Jonesboro, travel Ga. Highway 54 into Fayetteville, go up Ga. Highway 92 north, as far as White Road, and walk the rest of the way due to muddy roads.

He worked that first year building houses for Herbert Smith, from Morrow to downtown Atlanta.

He had a 1940 Chevrolet truck, all hand tools (power tools came much later) and a homemade trailer hitched to his truck.

On July 7, 1947 he went into the construction business for himself. A new home cost $6,650, a new car was $1,290 and milk was 78 cents a gallon.

He continued building many service stations in Atlanta and joined the Home Builders Association, serving on its board for 13 years. There was an Atlanta banker also on the board, and Bray kept encouraging him to invest in real estate in Fayette County. Of course, this county was considered way, way, far way, from Atlanta and not worth bothering about.

The first home Bray built in Fayette County was in the early 1950s for Joan and the late Ray Neal on Hwy. 92 north, also known as Forrest Avenue.

A civil engineer moved into the county, Earl Strother Sr. and he and Bray felt it important to create a planning and zoning plan. So, they put one together. The county commissioners couldn't see the need, and it lay there.

Then one Saturday evening, a toddler fell into an open septic tank and drowned, and on Monday morning their P&Z plan was adopted.

In 1959 Joel Cowan and others wanted to create Peachtree City, and took it to the legislators. They informed him that, to be incorporated, the town had to have a mayor, and the mayor had to live within the proposed town boundaries. So Cowan became the mayor, and Bray built his house in 30 days. A home which stood until recently.

The first house he built after Peachtree City was incorporated was for Jim and Miriam Fulton in the spring of 1961. They still reside there.

In 1960 he built the homes on Gwinnett Street for $7,900, including the lot. The homes all had three bedrooms, one bath and a carport.

Through the years he kept after whoever were county commissioners at the time, to keep changing and improving the Planning and Zoning Code. He served as its chair and attended Saturday classes at Georgia Tech for 50 consecutive weeks. The new ordinance that came out these meetings was adopted in 1969, and by and large, is still intact in Fayette County.

In 1952 he got engaged to the former Bea Teate, of Fairburn. He owned acreage at the corner of New Hope Road and Ga. Highway 85. He felled the trees off 2 acres, and built his bride-to-be a new home, all by hand. They were married on July 4, 1953 and lived in that home until moving to Brooks in 1996.

The Brays had two children, the late Danny L. "Bo Bo" Bray, and Patsy Goolsby, who works with him in the business.

"I have always believed in giving at least 10 percent of my time back to my community," he said. A look at the many awards he has received, and that will be evident: Citizen of the Year in 1968, the Boy Scout Silver Beaver in 1970, Builder of the Year in Metro Atlanta in 1975, Georgia State Emergency Medical Director of the Year in 1981, the coveted Hixson Fellowship Award, given by the International Kiwanis Clubs, in 2003, co-receiver of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce Dream Builders Award for Outstanding Community Service in 2002, and admitted to the Fayette County High School Alumni Hall of Fame in 2006, at which time he received his slightly delayed high school diploma.

When asked if he was retiring any time soon, he replied "No, I'm going to die with my boots on."

On a personal note, I have known Huie Bray for the past 42 years. He has fed my children when I couldn't, paid my way to renew my Emergency Medical Technician certificate each year, and been supportive of anything I have asked him to do. Trust me, he will indeed die with his boots on.

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