Boyd Ray

Hux-Lipford Funeral Home 300 W Main Street Mountain City, Tennessee 37683 Phone: (423) 727-9221 Fax: (423) 727-4759 www.hux-lipford.com Obituary for: Boyd Sam Ray Boyd Sam Ray, age 88 of 919 Medical Park Drive, formerly of 104 Woodland Drive, Mountain City, Tennessee passed away on Saturday, December 24, 2005. He was born in Newland, North Carolina on December 23, 1917. His family moved to Mountain City, Tennessee when he was about 2 years old. He grew up and went to school in Mountain City, graduating from high school in 1935. Boyd went to college at Mars Hill College, Milligan College and graduated from East Tennessee State University in 1940. In high school he played football and in college baseball. In both high school and college he was active in debating and dramatics and other forensic activities. After graduating from college he applied for and was accepted for flight training in the Army Air Corps (later to become the US Air Force) and was graduated from Kelly Fields, Texas in October, 1941 as 2nd Lieutenant. Boyd was the first person from Johnson County to become a military pilot. He spent the years of World War II in Wichita, Kansas where he was assigned to Cessna and Beech aircraft companies as test pilot and administrative officer supervising the production and delivery of aircraft to the Army Air Corps. He left the service in 1946 with the rank of Major. In 1942 Boyd and Lena Stout were married. They lived together for 36 years, until 1978, when she died of cancer. They raised three children: Suzanne, Elizabeth and Joe. Boyd has four grandchildren; three boys and one girl. He spent nearly 20 years working for different manufacturing companies; as Staff Assistant to the Vice-President and Work Manager of Sperry Farragut at Bristol, TN; as Production Superintendent of Assembly at Raytheon in Bristol, TN; as Manufacturing Manager for Poly Scientific Corp. of Blacksburg, VA; as Plant Manager for Sprague Electric Company in Hillsville, VA, where he helped start up and manage a new manufacturing facility. During this time Boyd sent his children to college, the girls graduating as pharmacists and the boy as a dentist. After that he returned to Mountain City to pursue his life long desire to raise cattle on his farm in Doe Valley. Boyd first became a member of the Baptist church in Mountain City when he was a youngster of about 7 years old. He later served as janitor and then as Superintendent of Sunday School. He and his family attended the Baptist church in each of the places where they lived while away from Mountain City. During that time he was a Bible teacher of young married couples classes and also of adult men's Bible classes in different churches. He became a deacon in 1967 in the Baptist church in Hillsville, VA, where he was also President of the men's Brotherhood. Altogether he spent more that 30 years as Bible teacher including the time spent as teacher of the men's Bible class in Mountain City. Boyd's interest and concern in community activities included, in earlier years, membership in the Rotary Club, Charter President of the Mountain City Junior Chamber of Commerce, President of the Johnson County Farm Bureau, member of the Board of directors of Tri-State Growers and the Mountain Breeders Association. In later years he was appointed to the Industrial Board of Johnson County. In 1944, he was elected President of the Hillsville, VA Lions Club. During Boyd's junior year in college at Milligan, in 1939, he was active in debating and drama and earned a membership in Alpha Psi Omega National Honorary Dramatic Fraternity. More that 40 years later, after his wife had died, Boyd joined the Johnson City Community Theatre and during the decade of the 1980's was given major character roles in nine different productions including two musicals. After Boyd was 73 years old he wrote, for the benefit of his children and grandchildren, his memoirs, more than 65 stories, in vignette form, or short stories. Several of these stories have been published in regional publications. In 1996 he published a collection of these stories in a book titled Blue Mountains & Green Valleys, Stories from Upper East Tennessee, which has been distributed primarily in the immediate region. Boyd's business interest, in addition to raising cattle, was in development of commercial property in Mountain City and housing development in Doe Valley. In 2001, when he was 83 years old, he established a $100,000 annuity scholarship program for the benefit of students from Johnson County, Tennessee at each of the schools of Mars Hill College and Milligan College, schools Boyd attended in the 1930's. Throughout his life Boyd was a true patriot, a staunch conservative who loved and trusted his fellow-man, believing that in business dealings honesty and integrity must prevail, and in personal relationships the principles of truth, purity and fidelity are paramount. Funeral Services for Boyd Sam Ray will be conducted at the Hux-Lipford Funeral Home Chapel on Monday, December 26, 2005 at 3:00. The family will receive friends from 1:00 to 2:45 prior to the services. Burial will follow in the Mountain View Cemetery. Active Pallbearers are: Frankie Arnold, Danny Cunningham, Todd Grayson, Lawrence Keeble, Tommy Jack Shoun, Terry Snyder, Bob Stansberry and Wayne Ward. Condolences may be sent to the family through our website at www.hux-lipford.com. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Johnson County Rescue Squad. Arrangements for Boyd Sam Ray are in the care of Hux-Lipford Funeral Home of Mountain City, Tennessee.