Ray Edwin Koch was born on July 21, 1936 to Rudolf and Alma Koch on the family farm in Lipscomb County, Texas and passed away on September 14, 2021. He attended Higgins Public School graduating in 1954. In 1955 he began working for the Santa Fe Railroad then drafted into the Army in 1959 serving the last of the two year term in Korea and was released from active duty in May, 1961. At that time he returned to work for the railroad. In November 1961, at the height of the Berlin Crisis, he was recalled back to active duty with the Civil Affairs Reserve Unit out of Abilene, Texas and was stationed in Fort Gordon, Georgia and never deployed to Berlin. He returned to civilian life and working for the railroad in August, 1962 out of Amarillo, Texas where he met his future wife, Mary Reid. Ray and Mary wed on February 8, 1964 residing in Amarillo. In 1969, Ray changed career and began work as an insurance claims adjuster for various companies until 1979 when he went to work for Texas Farm Bureau until retirement in June, 1998, due to Mary’s declining health condition.
Ray was preceded in death by his wife; Mary in 2005, both parents, brother; Leroy and his wife Norma. He is survived by daughter; Kristine Childers, son; Christopher and wife Evelyn, grandsons; Preston Childers, Joshua Koch, Zachary Koch, and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral service will be held at Forest Park The Woodlands Funeral Home in The Woodlands, Texas on Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 10:00am.
Interment will be held at Forest Park The Woodlands Cemetery at 11:00am with a Reception following at the funeral home.