Ray Lee Tinney (Floydada)
Ray Lee Tinney, 86, of Floydada, TX, went to be with the Lord on Friday, August 19, 2022.
Services will be held at 10:00 am, Saturday, August 27, 2022, at First Baptist Church in Floydada, with burial at 2:00 pm in the McAdoo (TX) Cemetery.
He was born on November 30, 1935, to Lee and Juanelle Ward Tinney in Quanah, Texas. Ray Lee attended 1st grade in a one-room schoolhouse on the Y. O. Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. After moving back to West Texas, Ray attended grades 2-6 in Doughtery. He then transferred to McAdoo School to play football with his cousins, Robert and Richard Ward. Unfortunately, this was McAdoo’s last year to play six-man football. The school did have a basketball team, and he lettered his last three years in a row. After his 1954 graduation, Ray worked in the oil field near and around Chickasha, OK.
In 1956, Ray Lee joined the Marine Corp. He was promoted to corporal by December 1957 and attached to the 1st Force Recon Co unit. Ending his military career in January 1959, Staff Sergeant Tinney returned to family and friends in Dougherty, Texas.
Ray was invited to attend First Baptist Church McAdoo, where he met their young organist, Kalah Burrow. In March 1959, Ray made the most critical decision when he received Jesus into his heart and was baptized. He and Kalah were married in the fall of 1960 in the parlor of First Baptist Church Shawnee, OK.
Through the years, Ray farmed in the Wake, Cone, and Doughtery communities and installed cable in Lockney and Woodrow. In the 80s, he began working for the City of Floydada, retiring with benefits after 21 years.
He loved everything outdoors, including locating water, beekeeping, and pheasant hunting. Ray was such a good shot that community men labeled him “Mr. Sportsfield.” In the 70s, Ray bought motorcycles for Kalah, their son Danny, and himself so they could explore the canyons together. By this point, Ray had also discovered the Geiger counter and often did his archeological digs in former Indian Territory. Upon retirement from the City of Floydada, Ray learned the new skill of polishing gems.
Throughout the years, botany held Ray’s fascination, especially with apple, peach, apricot, and pecan trees. He attended numerous grafting workshops and became certified in many specifics of this craft. Ray not only dug up small wild trees from various locations to replant on his acreage outside of Floydada, but he also grafted almost every tree he planted.
This tireless man of excellence is survived by his wife, Kalah Burrow Tinney, and son, Danny Ray; brother, Jim Tinney (Renea); sister, Sharon Tinney White (Richard); cousins Tammie Tinney Caine (Richard) and Richard Ward (Wilma); sister-in-law, Kandy Burrow Persall (Mark); nieces, Hannah Persall Svebakken (Steve) and Hilary Persall; as well as six grandnieces and grandnephews; and his caregivers, Ofelia Hammond & Christina Martinez.
