Obituary - Aliyah Leann Jada Gray

Aliyah Leann Jada Gray, 14, passed away Nov. 20, 2015.

Rosary services were held at Monday, Nov. 23, 2015, at 7 p.m. at the Hi-Line Funeral Services on 310 S. Dell in Havre. Wake services will be held Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, at 2 p.m. at St. Paul's Mission Recreation Center in Hays. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's Mission in Hays.

Arrangements have been made with Edwards Funeral Home of Chinook.

Condolences may be left for the family at http://www.edwardsfuneralhomemt.com.

Aliyah Leann Jada Gray, daughter of Silas (Lana Standingchief) Gray and Clarissa SeeWalker, was born Sept. 10, 2001, in Bismarck, North Dakota, and went to be with the Lord Nov. 20, 2015, in Havre, Montana. Aliyah was 14 years, 2 months and 10 days of age.

Aliyah resided in Havre, Montana, with her grandparents Lorraine (Boushie) Pester (NaNa) and Daryl Pester (PaPa). She attended Havre Middle School and was in the eighth grade. She joined the basketball team as a Havre Blue Pony, for she lived and breathed basketball. Basketball was her passion.

Aliyah had a unique talent in art, she always had drawings and designs drawn all over. She also had a great sense of humor and was always pulling pranks on anyone and everyone.

Aliyah's laughter was contagious and her smile always lit up a room. She loved laughing and she loved joking. She brought the fun with her anywhere and everywhere she went. Aliyah had a heart of gold and a tender heart as well. She was generous and always thinking of others before her. She took a liking to baking. Every weekend she would be baking with her NaNa and her favorite thing to bake was the desserts. Her favorite dessert was a Crazy Cake. She knew this recipe so well she really didn't need the recipe to follow. And when the day was over, Aliyah would go sit with PaPa and he would rock her. PaPa always reassured her how proud they were of her and how much she was loved. She loved the outdoors and would go outside to see what her PaPa was doing if he was outside and join in with whatever he was working on.

She loved when we went to the mountains with the dogs. She would run up the hills with Ravyn and run back and forth on the walkway. As talented as she was in art, she also took her art out on painting nails. Her artistic hands showed on other people's nails or on a piece of paper. I would have her paint designs on my nails and loved her imaginative work. Aliyah's deepest heart's desire was to begin dancing Fancy Shawl with Jentiel by her side in Jingle Dress category.

Every day Aliyah and Jentiel, her sidekick, would either listen to music, draw or go play ball together; they were inseparable like two peas in a pod. Aliyah loved her home and her family and her Ravyn and Buddy.

Aliyah is survived by her parents, Silas Gray and Clarissa SeeWalker; grandparents, Darryl and Lorraine Pester, and Merrill S. Gray; great-grandparents, Robert and Roberta Werk, Catherine Longknife, Mary Whitecow and Barnadette Lodge; uncles, Merrill A. Gray of Havre, Jonathan Gray of San Diego, California, Troy Werk of Juneau, Alaska, Andrew Pester of Missoula, and Kenneth Pester of Minot, North Dakota; aunt, Jennilyn Gray of Havre; great-uncles, Richard Boushie, Pete Boushie, George Boushie and Ted Boushie; great-aunts Sandy Meschell, Rosalie Boushie, Clarity Boushie and April Boushie; cousins, Jentiel Gray, Landen Gray, Jayde Lawson, Sharon Lawson, and many more.

Aliyah was preceded in death by her great-grandmother Jenny Gray; great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother, Joe and Josephine Whitecow; cousin Swede Boushie; and cousin Hunter Strait.