THELMA PACKMAN GRAY, 1918-2009 Her PR work and ideas got America's attention

Thelma Packman Gray, 91, of West Chester, a pioneering advertising and public-relations executive, died of heart failure Dec. 29 at home.

Mrs. Gray became a partner with Gray & Rogers in 1945, and established the Philadelphia ad agency's public-relations division. Jerome B. Gray and Edmund H. Rogers had founded the firm in 1931, and the late 1940s its clients included Bell Telephone of Pennsylvania, Chilton Publishing Co., local hotels, and food and drug companies.

In 1948, when a new client, the Allied Florists Association wanted to gain national exposure on a limited budget, Mrs. Gray had a brainstorm. That year, both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions were in Philadelphia, so she arranged to have a committeewoman present a floral arrangement in the shape of a flag to Thomas Dewey the night the Republicans nominated him as their presidential candidate.

No photos of the flowers were published in the media for the Republican convention, so Mrs. Gray decided on something more elaborate for the Democratic convention. In her memoir, she related how a Liberty Bell floral arrangement was presented to nominee Harry S. Truman. The arrangement included a drawer containing 48 pigeons representing each state. (Doves were unavailable.) When they were released, one landed on the podium where Truman was standing and another on his wife's hat. Major newspapers and national magazines included photos of the pigeons in their convention coverage.

In her memoir, Mrs. Gray also gave an account of what could have been a public-relations disaster. Earlier in 1948, Pyrene Fire Extinguishers contacted the agency for advice after an extinguisher "froze" during a fire. It was soon discovered that 60,000 other Pyrene extinguishers had the same problem.

Although Pyrene lawyers worried about lawsuits, Mrs. Gray persuaded the company to organize a recall. Newspapers ads explained the problem and provided information about replacing the extinguishers. Newspapers and radio stations were given press kits and urged to produce stories. Because Pyrene did the right thing, Mrs. Gray said, consumers trusted the company, and sales increased because the ads alerted people to the need for extinguishers.

Pyrene's chief legal counselor later told Mrs. Gray: "I'll bet this was the first recall program, and it will be the last. No company would dare take the risk Pyrene did." Instead, she wrote, "recall became a household word."