Visitation will be held on Sunday, January 3, 2021 from 1pm to 5pm at Griggs Schooler Gordon Funeral Directors, 5400 Bell St in Amarillo. Funeral Services will be held in the funeral home’s Pioneer Chapel on Monday, January 4, 2021 at 2pm with Lance Herrington presiding. Burial will follow in Memory Gardens Cemetery, 14200 Interstate 27 South in Amarillo.
Raymond was born on November 6, 1933 in Waco, Texas to Elzie and Clara (Movara) Rutherford. He was raised in the Waco area most of his life. After graduating high school, he entered nurses training where he would meet his future wife Mary Jo Hester, a marriage that would last 64 years.
Raymond was one of the first male nurses to be commissioned as an officer in the Army Medical Corp. He received anesthesia training in the US Army and became a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. Prior to leaving the Army for the private sector, he achieved the rank of Captain.
He practiced anesthesia for the next 50 years, both in Amarillo and the surrounding areas. He found great pleasure in fishing, gardening, coin collecting, and was an avid bowler. He became a member of Paramount Baptist Church shortly after its inception, where he was a member of the King’s Men Sunday School Class.
Raymond was preceded in death by his parents and sister in law Billie Jean. Those left to cherish his memories are his beloved wife Mary Jo (Hester) Rutherford, sons Raymond Lee Rutherford Jr, Douglas Wayne Rutherford and wife Trulene, and Brian Keith Rutherford, his brother Charles Ray Rutherford; as well as grandchildren Mindy, Shayne, and Nichole, and great-grandchildren Joseph and Henry.
