Alvin Ray Wagenfuhr
Alvin Ray Wagenfuhr
September 27, 1923 — December 31, 2018
Alvin Ray Wagenfuhr passed away in Austin, Texas, Dec. 31, 2018. He was born Sept. 27, 1923, at home northwest of Marble Falls, Texas to Herman Albert Wagenfuhr Sr. and Tonie Reimers Wagenfuhr.
Ray was preceded in death by his wife, Jane T. Taylor Wagenfuhr; his parents; his brother, Herman Albert Wagenfuhr Jr. and his wife, Fay; and sister, Frances Wagenfuhr Thurman and husband Merrell.
Ray is survived by Mary Ellen Thurman Denson (Bob), Damon Thurman (Sandy), Gary L. Thurman (Becky), Phillip Wagenfuhr (Christie), Jeanie Wagenfuhr Canady (Joey), Joyce Wagenfuhr Harris, Betty Lou Daise (Gary), Robert Lee Stover Jr., Thomas Franklin Taylor (Sharon), Angela Jane Taylor Rubottom (John), Sherry Jean Taylor Eckhart (Pete), and numerous great nieces and nephews.
Ray graduated from Marble Falls High School in 1942 — he was a star football player for the high school. He then served in the 9th Air Force during WWII with the 394th Bomber Group 587 Bomber Squadron. Ray flew combat missions as a crew member with this group in a B-26 bomber. After WWII, Ray attended the University of Texas. He was Credit manager for the Swearingen-Armstrong Ford dealership and then Armstrong-Johnson Ford dealership from 1948 until 1971. He then worked at the State General Land Office as an auditor in the Oil and Gas Division. He retired from the state in 1987.
Ray loved the outdoors. He spent many happy years on his parents’ ranch/farm. He worked in the pasture or fields, fed the hogs, sheep and cows. He helped gather food from the garden and slaughter the farm animals. Jane had a picture of Ray with a squirrel sitting in his lap eating out of his hand. The squirrel would crawl up his leg even when Ray was standing.
Ray and his wife loved to catch catfish on their trotlines, hunt deer in Texas and elk in Colorado. They backpacked into the mountains of Colorado and Idaho on horses and slept in sleeping bags in tents. Ray killed some large deer and elk and the horns still hang on the wall above the fireplace in his home.
Ray was a member of the First Baptist Church in Marble Falls and belonged to the Bunton Sunday School Class which was named after Bro. W. S. Bunton. His wife Jane was a member of the Pastor Class which was named after Bro. Max Copeland. Ray and Jane then joined the Faith Sunday School Class for couples.
The family will receive friends at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 8, at the Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home in Marble Falls, Texas. Services will then be at the Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home at noon with interment to follow at the Marble Falls City Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made in his memory to the charity of your choice.
