Ray Burton (Posted 2/3/2010)
Vinita, Okla. -- Pleasant Ray Burton, 93 year old resident of Vinita, passed away January 28, 2010.

 Visitation was Wednesday, February 3, 2010, at The Burckhalter Funeral Home from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Services are 2:00 p.m. Thursday, February 4, 2010, at the Ketchum Seventh-day Adventist Church with Elder John Moyer and Conference president, Perry Flerchinger officiating.  Burial will follow at The Military Cemetery.

 In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ketchum Adventist School, P.O. Box 429, Langley, OK 74350.

 Ray was born April 28, 1916, to James Andrew Burton and Roseanna (Bostian) Burton in Perkins, Okla. He married Ruth Oneta Dunford and was married for 56 years until her death in 1994. Ray then met and fell in love with Sarah (Ward) Burton and married her on June 7, 1997.

 Most boys at the age of 12 were out playing, but not Ray. By the age of 12, he started raising chickens and from that came the love of farming. As a young man, he trapped for his farming interest. He was very active in FFA and in 1933 was the Star Farmer for Oklahoma.  He purchased his first farm in 1945 in Stillwater, Okla. and paid for it in just two years because of his corn crops. OSU AG Students studied his success.

 Ray and his family moved to Ketchum in 1949.

 He was a member of the Ketchum Seventh-day Adventist Church.

 Ray was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Ruth; four brothers, Arthur, Ira, Elmer and Clarence and one sister, Minnie Bland.

 Survivors include his wife, Sarah; a son, Harold Burton and wife, Florence, of Cleburne; two daughters, Betty Brautigan of Vinita and  Mary Kraft and husband, Don, of Vinita; six grandsons, Emery Brautigan and wife, Chen, of Shanghai, China, Charles Brautigan and wife, Heather, of Colorado Springs, Colo., Gary Kraft of  Vinita, Kevin Kraft of Vinita, Brian Kraft and wife, Nicole, of Parson, Kan. amd Barry Brautigan of Vinita; two granddaughters, Suzanne Permaul of Tulsa, Okla. and Michelle Wynn of Cleburne; ten great grandchildren; one sister, Ruth McKey of Stillwater and a sister-in-law, Francis Burton of Stillwater, Okla.

 Burckhalter Funeral Home in Vinita, Okla. is handling the arrangements.  918-256-6444.