Anna (Gray) Fortier

Anna Ruth Fortier of Cranfills Gap passed away on July 5, 2022, after a hard-fought battle against osteoporosis.  She was 97 years old.  A loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, and community member, Anna leaves behind a host of memories from her many years of a life lived to its fullest.

Anna was born in Jean, Texas, on November 3, 1924, to Ruel and Achsa Gray.

She had a daughter, Judith, in her first marriage to Thomas Boston. Anna married Robert “Bob” Fortier May 11, 1963.  They had a daughter, Jerri, followed by a son, Robert.  Bob passed away July 3, 1975.

While raising her children, Anna lived in Dallas and Carrollton, working a variety of places, including the Dallas Morning News and Federal Oil and Gas.  She was active in Ladies Oriental Shrine and Eastern Star.  In her 70s, Anna relocated to Cranfills Gap, where she immediately immersed herself in all small-town life had to offer.  A faithful member of St. Olaf Lutheran Church, she was also active with the Bosque County Republican Party and Cranfills Gap Chamber of Commerce.  She quilted with friends, served senior citizens meals at the community center, served as election judge, and joined in when the town of Cranfills Gap won an expense-paid trip to Las Vegas in 2008.

At the age of 79, she made her stage debut in Our Town at the (then) Bosque Conservatory Tin Building Theatre in Clifton.  She followed that with other roles, including Grandma in The Homecoming. In 2010 she landed the featured extra role of Grandma Turner in the remake of True Grit with Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon.  That experience was capped off with the premiere of the movie at The Cliftex in 2011, when January 29 was declared Anna Fortier Day in Clifton.

In her 80s, Anna refused to be stopped by lung cancer, a broken hip, or a broken pelvis.  Even when osteoporosis finally rendered her homebound, she found renewed life with her electric wheelchair, zipping around her house not unlike the way she’d roamed the roads of Bosque County and the Metroplex in her Jeeps and sportscars.

Anna was preceded in death by her parents, Ruel Gray and Achsa Gray Sullenberger, and her husband, Bob.  She is survived by her family:  daughter Judi Boston, daughter Jerri Lewis and husband Tim, and son Robert Fortier and wife Susan; grandchildren Bobby Fortier and wife Rachel Paige, Mary Hreha and husband Joey, Dylan Fortier and Alyssa, Matthew Lewis, and Summer Fortier; great-grandchildren Rivers and Rose Fortier and Channing and Taysom Fortier.

Services for Anna will be at Clifton Funeral Home on Friday, July 8, with a short visitation at noon, a celebration of life at 1 p.m., followed by burial in Cranfills Gap.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggested donations to Shriners Children’s Hospital or a charity of choice.