Obituary of Ray Pace

Funeral services for Mr. Ray Lewis Pace, age 79 of Downsville, will be held at 2 PM on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 from the chapel of Riser Funeral Home in Columbia. Interment will follow at Mt. Rose Cemetery in Grayson. Visitation will be Monday evening at the funeral home from 6 PM to 9 PM. Mr. Pace was born on January 15, 1931 in Pistol Thicket, LA to the union of Madison Tutstone "Pat" Pace and Mary Lou Douglas Pace and passed from this life on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe. Ray was the seventh of ten children. He graduated from Grayson High School in 1950. Ray is a veteran of the US Navy having served during the Korean War off the coast of Korea aboard an aircraft carrier serving as a medic. He retired as a shipping manager from Ouachita Fertilizer Company. One of Ray's proudest achievements was being the Commander of VFW Post 1809 for the past twenty years. His second proudest achievement was that he taught himself how to play the guitar at the age of 50. He formed the Ray Pace Band around five years later and played every Friday night at the VFW hall as well as functions around North Louisiana. He wrote many of the songs that his band performed and was especially fond of The Red Dirt Farm, one of his last CD's the band recorded, which the title track was written about the family farm in Pistol Thicket that he and his siblings and nieces and nephews grew up on. Mr. Pace leaves behind to cherish his memory his wife; Carolyn Pace, son; Matthew Tutstone Pace and wife, Karen, granddaughter who was the light of his life and namesake; Kendall Raye Ann Pace, step-sons: Michael Orrick and wife, Beverly and Larry Orrick, sister; Ellen Smith and husband, Carlton, brother; Madison Tutstone Pace, Jr. and wife, Hilda Rene, Matt's half brother and sisters: Ronna Masters, Donna Hebert, Phillip Gregory, Tammy McPherson and Mark Gregory, numerous nieces and nephews and a vast number of friends and his best friend; J.W. Hackworth. Pallbearers will be Bill Cooper, Jr., J.W. Hackworth, Dr. Richard Madison Harrell, Ronnie Hatten, David Masters, Johnny Mercer, Otto Nash and Greg Smith. Honorary pallbearers will be Rodney J. Hobbs VFW Post 1809. Any planned memorials may be made to the Rodney J. Hobbs VFW Post 1809, PO Box 98, Swartz, LA 71281 or to the Mt. Rose Cemetery, 2301 HWY 850, Grayson, LA 71435.