Ray Linden Byrd

Services for Ray L. Byrd, 93, of Lufkin, will be held at 2:00 p.m. Monday, February 11, 2013 at Hillcrest Baptist Church with Bro. Horace Fletcher and Rev. Jerry Anderson officiating. Interment will follow in the Zavalla Cemetery.

Mr. Byrd was born April 7, 1919 in Chireno, Texas, the son of the late Mary Bessie (Perry) and Bewley Carroll Byrd, and passed away February 9, 2013.

Mr. Byrd was a loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He graduated from Colmesneil High School in 1937. He served his country in the U. S. Army during WW II in the European Theater as a combat medic. He was a deacon and Sunday School teacher at Hillcrest Baptist Church. Mr. Byrd was an avid gardener and enjoyed planting vegetables. He was a retired National Life Insurance agent.

Survivors include his daughter and son-in-law , Lynda Carroll and Donald W. Byrd; grandson, Linden Byrd; granddaughter and husband, Honor (Byrd) Rowe and Randal; great-grandson, Calvin Ray Rowe; sister, Virginia Crawford; brother-in-law, Herbert Simonton; sister-in-law, Bernice Pickard; and many nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his wife, Mary (Lowery) Byrd; sisters, Rachel Pauline Crawford and Etta Joy Simonton.

Pallbearers are Linden Byrd, Randal Rowe, Calvin Rowe, Donald Byrd, Myron Byrd and Wayne Atwood.

Honorary pallbearers are his nephews, members of his Sunday School

class; Junior Johnson, Bobby Allen, Rex Parkman and Fred Franklin.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 212 Gene Samford Drive, Lufkin, TX 75904, Hillcrest Baptist Church, 2005 Ford Chapel Road, Lufkin, TX 75901 or to Homer United Methodist Church, Highway 69 South, Lufkin, TX 75901.

The family will receive friends from 4:00p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday evening at Gipson Funeral Home.

Condolences may be offered at www.gipsonfuneralhome.com

Services have been placed in the trust of Gipson Funeral Home.