Roy Bray of Southmen Quartet Dies When His RV Crashed

Roy Bray, the baritone of Southern Gospel music's Southmen Quartet died when an RV he was driving crashed.  61-year-old Bray of Trenton, Kentucky, was driving the RV carrying the Southmen Quartet when it went off Interstate 65 about 2 a.m. Sunday and into a wooded median near Lebanon, about 20 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

Bray was pronounced dead at the scene while 72 year-old Jim Hefner was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.  The other two group members on the RV were not hurt.

Donnie Marr, one of the group members, described the incident in a post on his Facebook page. He writes: "As The Southmen Quartet was traveling to Nashville for our last concert for the weekend, tragedy hit us. Traveling down I65 south in Lebanon, IN, our bus left the road and traveled approximately 200 feet before hitting a tree head on totaling our bus.'Our piano player/baritone singer Roy Bray was driving the bus and took the brunt of the impact and was tragically killed. Owner Jim Hefner has been admitted to the hospital for further evaluation. Johny Washburn and myself walked away with few or no scratches."

The group was heading south after a performance in the northern Indiana town of Shipshewana.

The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known.

Bray had been involved in gospel music since the 1960s, and toured around the country - and to Canada - with the Southmen Quartet. He described his 'mission in life' as 'to seek and save the lost'. Writing on the group's website in 2012, Bray said: 'I have been involved in southern gospel music in many ways since 1966, and I'd have to admit that I'm not easily impressed, but wow; what a time I've had traveling and performing with The Southmen!''I count it an honor and a blessing to work the type churches and venues in which The Southmen perform and, best of all we are seeing souls saved, lives changed and, Christians re-dedicating their lives to The Lord. What more could a gospel musician/singer ask for?'

 

 

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