GAUSE, Texas (KRHD) — A 102-year-old Gause woman heads to the polls Tuesday to vote on Election Day.

• Mary Alma Gray never missed an election and cast her vote in the 2024 presidential election.
• He voted for the first time in 1964 for former president Lyndon B. Johnson.
• He says his father, DS Smith, Gause’s first black principal, taught him the importance of voting.
• His family says his efforts should inspire people, especially young people, to vote.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Mary Alma Gray, aka Miss Am, has never missed an election and doesn’t plan on missing the 2024 presidential election.

“How old are you Miss Am?” 15ABC asked.

“1-0-2. One hundred and two,” Gray said.

Born and raised in Gause, his father always taught him the importance of voting.

“I want to vote for her because she’s a woman and she’s black,” Gray said. he said.

“His father was the first black principal and the only principal in the town of Gause, Texas,” said his niece, Gwendolyn Holloway.

“He told me I had the privilege of voting,” Gray said.

Especially after the Civil Rights Movement helped African Americans gain this freedom.

But it didn’t come without its challenges.

“But he’d say: ‘Don’t you remember my father said we had to pay our poll taxes?’ And I didn’t understand that, but now I understand that they had to pay taxes to vote, if they didn’t pay taxes they couldn’t vote,” Holloway said.

Now his efforts to go to the polls have become an inspiration to his community.

His daughter-in-law, Agnes Gray, said, “When people see a 102-year-old lady trying to get to the polls to vote. Her current actions should, and should, inspire those who are giving excuses for not wanting to vote.” said the law.

“What lesson do you want to teach young people about voting?” 15ABC asked.

“Voting, because if you have the privilege to vote, vote,” said Mary Alma Gray.

“How do you feel now that you voted?” 15ABC asked.

“Good,” he said.

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