WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Nellie Gray, 86, the founder the annual March for Life has died. She passed away over the weekend and her body was discovered on Tuesday. Catholic Online joins the rest of the pro-life world in mourning her passing while celebrating the impact she has made in the cause for life.

Since 1974, Nellie Gray's commitment to the unborn took the form of the annual March for Life in Washington, DC where she was joined by crowds that approached a half-million people. Not only did the March draw one of the largest crowds from across America, but it was a young crowd. A majority of the marchers came from high schools and colleges around the nation.

In pro-life circles, Nellie Gray was a venerable icon, especially when standing on the platform at the national mall in her signature red coat, conducting the program through a symphony of speakers and supporters of life.

Plans for the first March for Life began in 1973 as the committee met regularly in her Washington apartment. She has been at the fore front of the marches ever since.

I first met Nellie in 1999 after moving to Washington. As the supervising Archbishop of our pro-life organization, CEC for Life, I was one of the speakers who would have a few precious seconds to encourage the sea of faces huddled in the January cold. She and her staff lined us up and shuttled us one-by-one to the microphone. Nellie stood watch over the time, never reluctant to move in if a speaker went long.

Fr. Frank Pavone, who traces the confirmation to his call to priesthood back to his participation in the 1976 March for Life as a teen, stated, "As a colleague in national pro-life leadership, Nellie was always an inspiration to the rest of us. Her devotion was on display that same year, 2008, when, despite being in the hospital during the March for Life [Ed. Note - she had tripped and fallen on the platform at the March rally], she nevertheless was present at all all-day meeting of national leaders the very next morning, with a patch on her head."

Fr. Paul C.B. Schenck, Founding Director and Chair of the National Pro-Life Center on Capitol Hill issued the following statement earlier today: "Nellie Gray lived her life well, she was devoted to the most vulnerable members of her human community, to justice and right. She remains an inspirational leader, a woman willing to stand against the currents regardless of the cost. As a champion of the right to life, human dignity and the common good, she almost single-handedly sustained the longest enduring public protest in American history, the March for Life. May God receive her now and may He bless her work to the end that all human life is respected and protected."

The next March for Life is scheduled to be held January 25, 2013. Whether you have been every year, come sporadically or never attended a March, one gift we can give in honor and memory of Nellie Gray is to be present on the National Mall on that date shouting, "Hey hey, ho ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go."

The obituary on the website for the March for Life Education and Defense Fund (www.marchforlife.org) reads:

"Nellie Gray, President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, passed away over the weekend at the age of 86. Nellie was a native of Big Spring, Texas. She served in World War II in the Women's Army Corps. Nellie's education included an undergraduate business degree, a master degree in economics, and ultimately a law degree.  Nellie worked for almost thirty years for the U.S. Government in the Departments of State and Labor. After retiring from her federal career, Nellie played a key role in founding the March for Life, the peaceful prolife demonstration held every year on the anniversary of the Supreme Court's infamous decision in Roe v. Wade.  She soon emerged as the leader of the annual event, and as an outspoken, eloquent advocate for the most vulnerable members of our society, the preborn. 

"In addition to her heroic work for the March for Life, Nellie will be most remembered for her passionate stance that every life, born and preborn, aged and young, must be cherished and protected.  No exception!  No compromise!  

"Until the very last moment of her life, Nellie pressed for unity in the prolife movement.  She firmly believed that not a single preborn life should be sacrificed for any reason, and urged all prolife organizations to adopt the March for Life's signature statement, the Life Principles, as the guiding light for all participants in the noble cause to which she devoted her life. 

"Nellie has been a giant in the pro-life movement. As we approach the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade we will continue to honor Nellie's memory by doing everything possible to protect every preborn human person and to end the scourge of abortion in the United States."

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Father Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and a priest with the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter (http://usordinariate.org) established by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, through the Apostolic Constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus."