Ray W. Patten

RAY W. PATTEN Graveside services for longtime Cortez resident, Ray W. Patten will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 31 at Arriola Cemetery. A reception for his friends will be held from 3 to 4:30 p.m., Saturday at Madison House to celebrate Ray’s birthday and his life. Visitation has been set for Friday evening from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Ertel Memorial Chapel. Ray was born in Enderby, B.C., Canada on March 31, 1916 to Ray William Patten Sr. and Anna (Mosher) Patten. He passed away at Madison House on Wednesday, March 28, 2007, days short of his 91 birthday. Ray Sr. was employed in Canada as a provincial policeman and, as a U.S. citizen, had gone to Canada to play professional baseball. There he met and married Anna Mosher, a Canadian citizen, both later became County Judges of Montezuma County. The family, which also grew to include brother, Art, moved from Canada to Clifton, Colo. to help in the family fruit business in 1921. Another brother, Barry was born in 1923. Ray’s dad and mom moved to Montezuma County in 1935 and Ray followed in 1937. He went to work for Bozman’s Garage until 1941 when drafted to do essential war work at Uravan, Colo., where uranium for atomic bomb was produced. He completed that job and then went to Shiprock to build a helium plant until the war ended. Ray worked for Empire Electric from June 1944 until he was injured on the job in 1970. Ray married Mary Josephine Miller in 1939 at the Methodist Church in Grand Junction, Colo. His beloved wife, Mary, preceded him in death in 2002. Ray and Mary are parents of Karen Patten Wade and Lynn and Mary Patten; grandparents of Russ and Rene Patten, Katie Patten, and Michael, Beth and Mylea Wade. They count Joyce and Brett Tanner as their own. Jessica and Abby Wade are their beloved great grandchildren. Ray was blessed with attentive, loving nieces, Jody Schwindt, Karel Miller, Myrna Nix, Beverly Armstrong and Josephine Gilbert; and nephew, Donnie Steerman. Ray is also survived by his brother, Art Patten of Chico, Calif. In lieu of flowers, the family appreciated support for Madison House, 120 S. Madison Ave., where Ray was treated with love, respect and devotion, as was his mother, Judge Anna.