Raymond LeRoy York, 87, of Sylvester died Tuesday, May 19, 2020 in an Abilene hospital.  Funeral services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at the Bailey Howard Funeral Home Chapel in Clyde.  A private family burial will follow in the Texas State Veterans Cemetery in  Abilene.  Visitation will be held from 5:00 until 7:00 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

Raymond was born July 31, 1932, to Charles and Lillie York in Minatare, Nebraska.  The family moved to Montour, Idaho, in 1934 when Raymond was two years old.  Later they moved to Sweet, Idaho, and then to Horseshoe Bend, Idaho,  for approximately four years.  When Raymond was sixteen years old, they moved to Emmett and he attended Emmett High School.  He worked for the Idaho Forest Service for two years and then at the Emmett sawmill for six weeks before he went into the U.S. Navy on August 25, 1951.  Raymond was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy at the San Diego Naval Station on July 26, 1955, with the rank of Machinist Mate Second Class.

After leaving military service, Raymond worked in Emmett at the Boise-Payette lumber mill, which later became the Boise-Cascade lumber mill.  On September 16, 1956, he married Patricia Ann Griffiths.  In 1969, they moved to New Mexico where Raymond worked as a saw filer in a sawmill in Cuba, New Mexico, for approximately twenty-three years.  He retired in 1995, but continued to work as a self-employed saw filer for other sawmills in the area.  In 2001, they moved to Sylvester, Texas, to be closer to their family.

Raymond is survived by his wife of 63 years, Patricia Ann York of Sylvester; four daughters, Vickie Czlapinski and husband Darold of Farmington, New Mexico, Kathie Mancine and husband Jim of Abilene, Joni York of Crockett and Denise York-Florez of Grand Prairie; five brothers, Gerald York, John York, Herschel York, Larry York and Don York; two sisters, Shirley Broomhall and Mary Brunner; 14 grandchildren; and 18 great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a granddaughter, Anna Watson.