Gay Storms

Gay Schlittler Storms, 74, passed away, Thursday, March 19th, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas after a brief illness. She was born in Gainesville, Texas, to the late Dub and Colene Schlittler. Her younger brother, Derace Schlittler also preceded her in death.

She spent her childhood in Murray, Texas, a place she could never accept leaving. The kindness of her neighbors and the beauty of the land touched her. She always wanted to physically return there.

An artist at heart, always curious, Gay’s interest in writing and literature led her to obtain a bachelor’s degree in English Literature after attending Hardin-Simmons and University of Texas, Arlington. She went on to achieve a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Louisville. A gifted pianist and singer, she performed in church from a young age.

She married Billy Storms of Mercedes, Texas, who she met while he served as Music Director at Bethel Baptist Church of Graham, Texas and she played piano there. They had three sons, Jeremy, Justin and Jordan, their names beginning with “J”s in devotion to our savior. It was a blessing that became a curse, when, in the heat of the moment the tongue became twisted around a wrong name or two before getting to the offending boy: “Jeremy! Jordan! I…I mean, Justin!! Come here!!!” She lived for her boys.

After 20 years serving the Baptist Church as the preacher’s wife of a 3,000 family congregation, Travis Baptist Church of Corpus Christi, her marriage ended in divorce. She had to make a new life for herself and eventually did, writing for the Graham Leader. She wrote for the paper for 20 years, from 1993 to 2013.

As a lifestyle editor, she poured her passion into celebrating the stories of the people who called her beloved North Texas home. Her column, “North Texas Tales,” which she loved to write, had her reporting what she learned of the area’s past. The wars fought between the Kiowas, cowboys, soldiers and Comanches had a violence that still reverberates down through history and speaks to the people of today.

Gay gave her North Texas community a deeper understanding of what makes this place—where the Cross Timbers meet the Plains—what it is today. This legacy of the past is continued in the stories she found in the present. Writing about the WWII veterans, police, teachers and ministers as well as stuntman, cowboy artist, bee keeper and rodeo clown, the colorful subjects of her lifestyle features showed that the more things change, the more they stay the same in North Texas.

In 2013, she was overjoyed when she learned she would soon have a grandson. Deciding his arrival would mean her departure from the Graham Leader, she left journalism to grandmother full-time. Getting to spend her golden years with her grandson, Joseph, meant the most to her of all. She was proud of their relationship and his nickname for her, “Dinker.”

She is survived by her sons, Jeremy Storms and fiancée Marilou Williams of Las Vegas, Nevada; Justin Storms and wife Cambria Storms, of Durham, North Carolina; as well as Jordan Storms and Amanda Chenault and their son, Joseph Storms of Graham, Texas.

Services will be held graveside at the Murray Community Cemetery, Saturday March 28th, at 10:00 a.m. The family will be at Morrison Funeral Home at 9:00 a.m. that morning for those who wish to visit prior to the funeral. The public is welcome to attend.