District 5690 - District Biographies - Assistant Governor Division I

Ray graduated from Oxford Rural High School in May 1963. He attended Northeastern A&M Junior College at Miami, Oklahoma graduating in the spring of 1965 with an AA degree in agriculture. He graduated from Oklahoma State University at Stillwater, Oklahoma in 1967 with a BS in Animal Science.

Ray joined the Kansas State Extension Service as the Greenwood County 4-H Agent at Eureka, Kansas and began KSU graduate school graduating in 1971 with his MS degree in meat science. In August 1971 Ray continued with the KSU Extension Service as County Ag Agent in Gray County, Cimarron Kansas. While serving as county agent, he received the Kansas County Agents Achievement Award.

In September 1976, Ray began a new career in banking with Garden National Bank of Garden City, Kansas as the bank ag representative where for the next twenty years, he was an ag lender. After taking early retirement, in November 1996 he accepted another banking position with Home National Bank of Arkansas City to open a branch in Garden City, Kansas and served as Branch President. After merging with American State Bank & Trust Company, Ray served as Market President.

Ray has participated in, and served on the boards of many organizations: Kansas Banker Association, Kansas Association of Bank Representatives, Kansas Livestock Association, Kansas Ag and Rural Leadership, Kansas Dept. of Revenue-Land Use Value, Kansas Experiment Station, Western Kansas Community Foundation, Finney County 4-H Foundation, Beef Empire Days, Inc., Western Kansas Irrigation Project, Finney County Fair, Garden City Rotary Club, First United Methodist Church, Kansas 4-H Foundation, Finney County Economic Development Committee, and St. Catherine Financial Committee.

Ray married Dena in 1990. Together they have five children and eight grandchildren.