Argus Observer (Ontario, Malheur County, Oregon)
Tuesday, June 06, 2000
Ray Miller Knight
March 22, 1907 - June 4, 2000
Ray Miller Knight, 93, New Plymouth, passed away June 4, 2000, at a local nursing home. Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Plymouth Congregational Church, New Plymouth. Burial will follow at Park View Cemetery, New Plymouth. Arrangements are under the direction of Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, New Plymouth.
Ray was born March 22, 1907, in Watertown, S.D., the seventh of nine children born to Elwin and Emma Miller Knight. The family moved to Mesa, Colo., around 1909, then in 1913 to New Plymouth. In 1915, they moved to Meridian, where Ray finished his schooling.
When he was 16 he spent two summers in High Valley caring for and milking a herd of milk cows belonging to the Tracys. That also involved taking the milk by horse and wagon down the hill to Smith's Ferry twice a week to meet the train. Ray was always involved in farming, working for his Uncle Clare for a time and for others before buying 180 acres northeast of New Plymouth. Ray was a good farmer, farming for many years during the depression with a team of horses before investing in a tractor.
Ray met Carrie Barker at a church function and they married Aug. 28, 1928, with his grandfather Rev. H. F. Knight performing the ceremony. They were married for 70 years.
Ray served on the board of the Drainage and Noble Ditch and was chairman of the New Plymouth school board. He was on the Board of Deacons of the Congregational Church for many years and was an active member attending every Sunday until his health prevented it. He was honored by the New Plymouth Chamber of Commerce as parade marshal in 1993.
Ray is survived by his brother, Kenneth, of Boise; a daughter, Bessie Ellen Skinner, and her husband, Robert, of Boise; a granddaughter, Kathryn Skinner, and her husband, Ross Oyen, of Boise; a grandson, Jonathan Skinner, and his wife, Shanin of New Plymouth; two stepgreat-grandchildren, Julie and Jess Johnson of New Plymouth; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Carrie; four brothers, Julius, Elwin, Ralph and Lynn and three sisters, Esther, Marie and Ruth.
Memorials may be made to the Plymouth Congregational Church, P.O. Box 6, New Plymouth, ID 83661 or a charity of your choice.
Friends may call from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. today at Shaffer-Jensen memory Chapel, New Plymouth.
