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Eulice Lyndall Ray was born in Hatton, Alabama, to Sara Ellie Ott Burden Ray and Allen Noble Ray on April 29, 1929. After high school he enlisted in the Air Force December 10, 1947. He was sent to air traffic controller school at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois in 1948. His first deployment was Naha Air Force in Okinawa, Japan where he and some of his buddies rode out a typhoon. In 1949, he was sent to Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma. He met my mother in Hennessey, Oklahoma in 1950 where she worked at Spencer’s Drug Store. He was married to Wilma Jane Streck on February 24, 1951, in Kingfisher, Oklahoma by Reverend Larry Barnes.

During his career in the military he was stationed at Anchorage Air Force Base in Alaska, Bermuda, and other places. In Sept. 1958, he was responsible for-bringing in a distressed U-2 spy plane which at the time was top secret. In 1966 he was stationed in Thailand. He saved many planes in distress coming back from bomb runs in Vietnam. He retired from the military and joined the FAA in 1968 where he worked at Midland City Alabama outside Dothan, Alabama in the control tower. He retired from the FAA in January 5, 1985. While in Dothan Mr. Ray, a $elf-taught musician, was active in a nursing home ministry where he played gospel music while other members of his group would preach to the people there. He loved to play his guitar. He and Wilma lived in Dothan, Alabama, for many years before finally moving to Bainbridge, Georgia. The family attended First Baptist Church while living in Bainbridge. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Wilma Jane Streck Ray on May 29, 2014. They are survived by one daughter, Donna Lynn Ray Lennard and her husband Larry Lennard of Bainbridge, and one son Allen Martin Ray and daughter in law: Beverly Jones Ray of Emory Texas. They also have four grandchildren: Jonathan Ray, David Ray, Amy Ray, and Margaret Lennard, and three great­grandchildren: Daniel Ray, Viona Ray, and Rian Liam Lennard Fuller. In lieu of flowers please send a donation to the First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 155 Bainbridge, Georgia 39818 to be used for Shoebox Ministry or the choir.