HOUSTON – Residents of a small Fort Bend County town conspired to bring an early Christmas present to man who thought he would never see his best friend, a German Shepherd named Albert, again.
Paul Gray is a career criminal who found God in prison and then devoted his life to saving other prison inmates. But now battling cancer, Gray’s friends decided he should not fight this battle without his best friend by his side.
Gray moved to Texas from New York State six weeks ago at the invitation of Grove Norwood, founder of the prison ministry organization The Heart of Texas Foundation. But when Gray packed up to leave Gowanda, N.Y., his 2-year-old German Shepherd was missing. Gray left New York not knowing what happened to the dog.
Days after arriving in Simonton in Fort Bend County, he learned that a woman on a Seneca Indian reservation near Gowanda had found Albert. Gray, however, was dealing with a new harsh reality. Just days after arriving in Texas, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and began seeing specialists at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Faced with the emotional and financial cost of his new battle, he made the reluctant decision to let the woman in New York keep Albert, provided she not change his name.
But the friends he’d made in his short six weeks in Texas, many of them at Simonton Community Church, decided they needed to intervene.
“He comes home from all these treatments and tests and he needs his dog,” said Peggy Townley.
Her husband agreed.
“He needs his dog, whether he's sick or well. I know I would," Jeff Townley said.
So the Townleys, Grove, and a host of others from Texas to New York, conspired to invite Gray to the Townley’s home on the ruse of a social visit Thursday afternoon. 11 News was invited to meet Gray and interview him about his involvement in prison ministries.
But after just a few questions, his friends opened the blinds to the living room window. Albert, with a Christmas bow around his neck, was waiting for his master in the Townley’s back yard. The friends arranged to fly the dog from New York to Houston and give Gray an early Christmas present.
From the frolicking squeals of a German Shepherd to the tears of a prison minister, it was hard to determine who enjoyed the reunion more.
"I don't know how to put it into words. I started crying. I raised him from this big,” Gray said, wiping tears from his eyes.
"It's good to see him,” Gray said. “He's family. He's home."
Home to give a man battling cancer perhaps the best medicine only a best friend can bring.
"There's nowhere like Texas. These are God's children here,” Gray said of his newfound Simonton friends. “And I'm home. And so is Albert."
More info:
http://www.heartoftexasfoundation.org/
