The Institute welcomes the James Magoffin Xll Travelers – two dynamic women! Although Katelyn and Kelsey Gray were born and raised in El Paso, college and careers took them from their hometown.

 

Katelyn graduated from Texas Christian University with a nursing degree and recently completed her masters degree as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at Regis University in Denver, where she currently resides. Kelsey received her bachelor degree from Baylor University and her medical degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Currently. she is in residency at Virginia Tech with a specialty in plastic surgery. Giving back to their hometown has become a priority since the girls became young adults moving forward in their careers.

 

The girls’ parents, Tim and Julie Gray, started their family, “just a few houses down the street” from Tom Lea’s home. His proximity enabled “The Girls” to learn who Lea was and to appreciate his art at a young age. The Grays chose the Institute and The XII Travelers because of Lea’s contributions to the world at large through his art and writing. He is an El Paso treasure they wanted everyone to enjoy.

 

The “Magnificent Gray Girls” are excited to participate in the current “renaissance” in El Paso by supporting the Tom Lea Institute’s mission to bring the work of Lea and the environment that nourished him to the forefront.

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