{"id":42141,"date":"2026-07-09T16:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T21:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=42141"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:30:19","slug":"marlene-bray-88-of-altamont-formerly-of-vandalia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/42141-marlene-bray-88-of-altamont-formerly-of-vandalia\/","title":{"rendered":"Marlene Bray (88) of Altamont, formerly of Vandalia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Marlene Bray, 88, of Altamont, formerly of Vandalia, IL, passed away on Thursday, July 9, 2026 at Lutheran Care Center in Altamont, IL.<\/p>\n<p>Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at Johnson Funeral Home in Effingham. Burial will be in Dieterich Cemetery in Dieterich. Visitation will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 prior to the service at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers and gifts, memorials may be made to Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Vandalia, Lutheran Care Center, or Dieterich Cemetery Fund. Online condolences may be shared at www.johnsonandsonsfh.com.<\/p>\n<p>Marlene was born on December 31, 1937, in Effingham County, IL, the daughter of Aaron L. and Fredericka \u201cPedro\u201d (Krueger) Mascher. She married James A. Bray on August 21, 1955, and he preceded her in death on August 31, 2013. Marlene was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother who loved raising three boys, and attending the grandkids sporting events with her husband. She was also an avid sports fan and especially enjoyed St. Louis Cardinals Baseball. Marlene had a great affinity for reading, counted cross stitch, and cardinal birds. She was a faithful member of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Vandalia.<\/p>\n<p>Marlene is survived by her sons, Robert (Vicky) Bray of Altamont, Fred (Ruth) Bray of Dieterich, and Dennis (Kathy) Bray of St. Peter; grandchildren, J.R. (Kiley Willison) Bray, Erin (Joshua) Moffit, Holly Bray, Kristen (Jason) Park, Kyle Bray, Rachel Bray (Blake Lewis); and 8 great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p>She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, James; brother, Charles Mascher; and sister, Vicky Joy Mascher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marlene Bray, 88, of Altamont, formerly of Vandalia, IL, passed away on Thursday, July 9, 2026 at Lutheran Care Center in Altamont, IL. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":42142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Marlene Bray (88) of Altamont, formerly of Vandalia - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/42141-marlene-bray-88-of-altamont-formerly-of-vandalia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marlene Bray (88) of Altamont, formerly of Vandalia - 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