Flags on 3 Ohio buildings to fly at half-staff Wednesday in honor of late state Sen. Ted Gray

The U.S. and Ohio flags will be flown at half-staff Wednesday on three state-owned buildings in downtown Columbus in honor of the late Ted Gray, Ohio's youngest-elected and longest-serving state Senator, Gov. Mike DeWine ordered Tuesday.

Flags will be will be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Wednesday at the Ohio Statehouse, the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts, and the Rhodes State Office Tower in honor of Gray, who died March 4. He was 96.

The half-staff order was made in connection with Gray's casket lying in honor at the Statehouse from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday.

There will also be a visitation on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., at Schoedinger Northwest funerlal home at 1740 Zollinger Road, Upper Arlington, followed by a service there beginning at 11 a.m. A reception will follow.

Despite his age, Gray was living independently until he suffered a fall in February while trying to get onto an elevator at his Upper Arlington home and was transported to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital. He was discharged March 4 to National Church Residences Hospice, where he died later that day, according to the Franklin County Coroner's Office.

Gray's daughter Scarlett Ann Gray-Saling said her father died of a combination of pneumonia and old age.

"It was my lucky break to sit right next to Senator Gray when I served in the Ohio Senate," DeWine said in a statement of condolence to Gray's family following the former senator's death. "I learned so much from talking with him.  He knew the history of the State Senate.  And, he knew which policies had been tried before — what worked and what didn’t work."

Born in Springfield, Ohio, on Sept. 3, 1927, Gray was a resident of Piqua, Ohio, when he was first elected to the state Senate in November 1950 while a student at Ohio State University. He took office at age 23 in January 1951 as the youngest elected state senator in Ohio history.

In 1962, after gaining reelection to a fourth term, his colleagues elected him to be the Senate majority leader. When he won his election to his fifth term in 1966, Gray was named the Senate's president pro-tempore, the second highest position in the Senate, a position he held for 10 years.

After Piqua was removed from his Senate district, Gray moved to Upper Arlington in order to remain in the district. He went on to win reelection in 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986 and one last time in 1990. After that win, he was appointed chairman of the state Senate Finance Committee.

In February 1994, before the spring primary, Gray resigned, citing laryngitis. His voice had deteriorated to the point where he had to communicate with Senate leadership by showing a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

In all, Gray served 10 consecutive terms in the Senate, marking 43 years as a state senator.

In addition to his daughter Scarlett, Gray is survived by four other children, Thackery, Timothy, Theodore and Laurie; 6 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, 8 great-great grandchildren, and a sister, Rebecca Mitchell.

@ShahidMeighan

smeighan@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Flags on 3 state buildings to be flown at half-staff for late Ted Gray