RAY ALBERT LITTLE

LAMAR- A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at Daniel Funeral Home, for Ray Albert Little, 93, Lamar, who died Saturday, Oct.5, 2024, at his home. Burial will follow in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Lamar.

The family will receive friends from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, at the funeral home.

Contributions are suggested and made payable to St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery or Donor's Choice, in care of the funeral home.

Condolences may be shared at www.dfhlamar.com.

Survivors include his wife of 69 years, Doris; four sons, Danny Little and wife Jewell, Kevin Little and wife Gina, Greg Little and wife Teresa, all of Lamar and Rod Little and wife Karen, Dayton, Va.; one daughter, Debra Garrett and husband Randy, Lamar; 10 grandchildren, Jason Bartlett and wife Christy, Julie Adams, Alana Gilmartin and husband Austin, Lauren Engle and husband Jake, Brandon Little, Casey Little and wife Amanda, Seth Little and wife Caleigh, Kyla Baughman and husband Josh, Alex Gibson and wife Pierce and Evan Garrett; 12 great-grandchildren; one great-great grandchild and one sister, Evelyn Hammer, Bartonville, Ill.

Mr. Little was born Feb. 6, 1931, at his grandparent’s home near Iantha, to Chester Edwin Little and Ethel Mae (Lawrence) Little. He attended Ozark and Haines Grove country schools and graduated from Lamar High School in the class of 1950. He married Doris Lynn Gastel on Nov. 24, 1954, in Miami, Okla. He served in the National Guard from 1950 - 1955.

Mr. Little began working in his youth helping his dad with farm work. He often told of driving the team of horses on cold dark mornings rumbling down the gravel roads to his destination to pick corn for Leo Needham. During his teenage years he worked at the DX filling station. He attended college in Pittsburg, Kan., then returned to Lamar and bought half interest in Flesch’s DX Station. He then worked at Lawn Boy in the sales and the traffic departments for 10 years until the company moved. Mr. Little also kept the books for plots for Lake Cemetery in Lamar. 

In 1963 he was offered a bank teller’s position at Lamar Trust Company. After 35 years he retired from the bank at the position of Bank President, then served on the bank’s Board of Directors another 24 years. After retiring from the bank he was free to pursue his part time job as farmer. He was a successful farmer and was extremely proud of his farm’s personal-best wheat yield this summer. He began farming in 1965 at the urging of his father-in-law, Leonard Gastel. At one time Mr. Little farmed the land across the street from his family’s home on Hagny, where they have lived since 1959. He eventually began farming the ground on his parents’ farm near Iantha and added to the original farm.

At the age of 82 back problems forced him to retire from farming. His new passion became mowing the countryside. He took pride in tidy equipment, tidy barns, tidy fields and tidy roadsides. He was a lifetime warrior against weeds and unwanted grass in his fields. When he wasn’t on a tractor, he could be seen walking his bean fields with a hoe chasing down the weeds that slipped by the cultivator or the sprayer, or spraying with his hand sprayer full of Roundup at the LBT parking lot and elderly peoples’ driveways and sidewalks that he helped watch over.

He was a long-time member of the Lamar Metro club and Lamar Fishing Club.

He was a humble treasured man who knew the importance of hard work and community. He had a life well-lived.