Ray Graham

Ray V. Graham, 92, of Pella, and formerly of Oskaloosa, died Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, in the Hospice of Pella Comfort House in Pella.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Bates Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa with the Rev. Al Schreuder officiating. Burial will be in the Forest Cemetery in Oskaloosa. Military honors will be given by members of the Oskaloosa American Legion and VFW. Visitation will be held after 11 a.m., Friday at the funeral chapel, with the family present from 5 to 7 p.m. to greet friends and relatives. Memorials may be made to the Hospice of Pella Comfort House.

Mr. Graham was born Wednesday, April 23, 1924, in Oskaloosa, the son of Leroy and Hazel McDonough Graham. He married his sweetheart, Harriett Durham, on July 14, 1946, upon returning home from military service.

He joined the Army on Feb. 8, 1943, and served in the Pacific Theater for more than 2 ½ years. He and his family moved to Canyon City, Colorado, in the fall of 1948. As a reservist, he was recalled to active duty on Sept. 27, 1950. They then moved back to Oskaloosa, and he went to Korea to serve for another nine months. After his discharge, he farmed through the fall of 1958. He served as deputy sheriff for Mahaska County from January 1959 to December 1964. He then worked as the Mahaska County auditor from January 1965 to December 1968. In January 1969, he moved to Washington and took a position as plant clerk at the Crane Company. By 1977 he and his wife had moved back to the Oskaloosa area. In 1981 they moved to Mojave Valley, Arizona, where he worked as an outside guard at Riverside Casino in Laughlin, Nevada, for about 15 years. He retired, and he and his wife again moved to Washington in the fall of 1996. When his wife moved from one care facility to another, he moved back to Oskaloosa to be closer to her. She died on Dec. 1, 2004. On Nov. 15, 2015, he moved to Pella. He was a former member of the Oskaloosa American Legion and a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He enjoyed listening to music by the Blackwood Brothers Quartet. Bill and Gloria Gaither Homecoming shows on Saturday nights were also a favorite of his.

Surviving are two sons, Walter Graham and wife Janice of Pella, and Arlo Graham and wife Sandra of Washington; six grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; one sister, Verla McMahan of Roberta, Georgia; and one brother, Larry Graham of Des Moines.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; one daughter, Cynthia Keen; one brother, John Graham; and two sisters, Arlene Fox, and Adlene Herberer.