BUDDY RAY

Buddy Ray, 64, Crofton, Neb., died Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005, at his residence, from an apparent heart attack.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 22, at Trinity Lutheran Church, with the Rev. David Wildermuth officiating. Burial will take place in Hillcrest Memorial Park, Norfolk, Neb., with military honors provided by Post 1644 and American Legion Post 16. Wintz & Ray Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Yankton, was in charge of arrangements.

Buddy Ray was born June 22, 1941, in Malden, Mass., to Everett and Edith Ray. He graduated from Everett Vocational High School and attended Boston University until drafted into the Army in 1966. He was sent to Alaska, where he resided until 1998.

He worked at the Alaska Railroad as a supervisor for the computer programmers. In 1980, he purchased the Call of the Wild, a bar and grill in Big Lake, which he ran until retiring in 1998. He moved to Crofton with his wife, Jeanne Lau, where they resided until her death in May 2002.

On July 12, 2003, he married Linda Voss in Big Lake. Together they have spent their summers in Alaska, winters in Lake Havasu, Ariz., and springs and falls in Crofton.

He loved to hunt, fish, and, most recently, golf. He also loved to travel since his retirement.

Survivors include his wife, Linda; two stepsons, Brian Voss, Kevin and his wife, Penny Voss, all of Fort Worth; two sisters-in-law, Carol Larson of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Suzie Whitt of Anchorage, and father-in-law, Richard Whitt of Scottsdale, Ariz.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his first wife, Jeanne.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be directed to the American Heart Association or the American Diabetes Association.