Herman (Ray) Barton passed away on May 23, 2022 at the McAlester Regional Hospital. He was 84. Ray was born on September 1, 1937 in Shattuck, Oklahoma to Veta Pearl and Fred Barton.
Ray was raised on the family farm west of Cheyenne, Oklahoma and spent much of his young adult life as a steer wrestler, traveling to rodeos all over the United States. He later owned his own business building fences, worked as a surveyor for the Corps of Engineers and retired as a Materials Handler from the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in 1997. In his spare time, he enjoyed training coon dogs, breaking horses and attending horse sales.
He is survived by his wife Georgetta, McAlester, daughters Karmin (Jerry) Willson, McAlester, Debbie (Gary) Forrester, Abilene, Kansas, Marlo Barton, McAlester, Toni (Jonna) Fletcher, Prairie Grove, Arkansas and grandchildren Cody and Jerod Forrester, Chloe Motely, Leah and Rhett Hunter, Caleb, Sam and Josh King, Lauren and Ava Burk and two great granddaughters, Kynlee Acosta and Avery Motely; one sister Yonzell Vogt and two brothers Jim and Jack Barton.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Robert Barton and a daughter Gina Raylyn Hunter.
On Saturday, June 25, 2022, family and friends gathered at McAlester, Oklahoma for a memorial for Ray at this daughter Marlo’s ranch.
The setting was beside the small lake where Ray enjoyed fishing.
The alter was assembled by the family with a small cross, cut from two native trees and was surrounded by his saddles, his hat, ropes, pictures of Ray with his horses as well as an assortment of his rodeo trophy buckles. The service was concluded with family members spreading his ashes from the lake dock.