Bonham, Texas -- Funeral services for Ray Lovelace, 98, of Bonham, will be held at 2:00 PM Saturday, March 20, 2010 in Wise Funeral Home Chapel. Rev. Gary Gibbs will officiate. Burial with military honors and Masonic rites presented by Constantine Lodge No. 13 of Bonham will follow in Willow Wild Cemetery. Ray passed away Thursday, March 18, 2010 in a Dallas nursing home.
Ray was born April 28, 1911 in Bonham, Texas, the son of Thomas Allen Lovelace and Ella Starnes Lovelace. He was a 1931 graduate of Bonham High School and the American Institute of Baking in Chicago, Illinois. He married Wilma Joyce Hughes who preceded him in death, Dec. 15, 1943 and later married Hilda Hartley who preceded him in death in 1998.
Ray was a US Marine and US Army veteran of WWII. He was a member of First United Methodist Church and sang in the choir for many years. He also sang for many funerals. Ray began working in a bakery in 1925 and purchased and operated his own bakery in Bonham in 1946. He also owned bakeries in Paris, Sherman and Dallas.
Ray was a baker for Austin College in Sherman for 8 years. He retired from the bakery business in 1965 when he sold his bakeries. Ray was a member of Constantine Masonic Lodge No. 13 (32nd Degree Mason), and was a member of Scottish Rites, York Rite and Shriners.
He was preceded in death by his parents, 3 brothers, Charles “CC” Lovelace, William True Lovelace and Byron Lorton Lovelace and 1 sister, Faye Allen Lovelace.
Surviving are:
4 Nephews: Charles Lovelace of Garland, TX
John Allen Lovelace of Dallas, TX
William Wayne Lovelace of Charlottesville, VA
Allen J. Lovelace of Roswell, NM
2 Nieces: Harriett Ann Anderson of Duncanville, TX
Sarah Ann Evans of Garland
Numerous great nieces and great nephews and great great nieces and nephews.
Members of the Masonic Constantine Lodge No. 13 in Bonham will serve as pallbearers.
Memorials may be made “in memory of Ray Lovelace” to Sam Rayburn Library, 800 W. Sam Rayburn Dr., Bonham, TX 75418.
The family will receive friends at Wise Funeral Home from 1:00 PM till service time Saturday.
Online guest register www.wisefuneralhome.com
