Obituary of Raymond Duell

Raymond Charles Duell was born on August 2, 1925 to Charles Cleveland Duell and Laura Mae Thompson Duell at the family farm in Cheyenne county Kansas, about halfway between Goodland and St. Francis, Kansas. He died October 5, 2012 at his home just outside of Flagler, Colorado. Ray completed the first eight grades of his education in a one-room schoolhouse near the family home. He completed his freshman year at Ruleton while staying with his older siblings who taught school there. He completed his sophomore and junior years at Edson, Kansas, where Lowell had a teaching job. He had earned enough credits to graduate early and helped his father on the family farm in the fall of 1942. Then he completed his high school education at Goodland High School, graduating in the spring of 1943. He attended Kansas State University in the fall of 1943 where he studied engineering for one semester before returning to Goodland. He farmed with his father and worked as a mechanic at the White Implement Dealership in Goodland. He was drafted to serve in the military in early 1945 and was inducted into the US Navy in Denver on February 2, 1945. He served aboard LST 172, which embarked from San Francisco, California and served in the Pacific theater. Ray was honorably discharged on July 6, 1946 and returned to Goodland. Ray never knew an idle moment and in the late forties and early fifties he farmed with his father and on his own, hauled hay, grain, and automobiles with business partner Melvin Whisnant of Goodland. He built terraces for erosion control and soil conservation and custom-seeded grass for the USDA’s “soil bank.” At the height of his grass seeding days he had 13 grass drills in four or five locations and several employees. On some days he spent all of his time checking on the various tractors. During this time of trucking, grass seeding, terracing, and farming Ray usually stayed at the hotel in Seibert, Colorado. Ray used the telephone a great deal in all his business ventures, and his voice was very well known to the ladies who worked the switchboard at the Mountain Bell regional office in Limon, Colorado. Most of the phone calls in eastern Colorado filtered through this office. Ray usually would make several calls in a relatively short period of time; usually in the morning, and at the time the calls had to be placed by an operator. While he kidded, teased, and perhaps flirted with most of the ladies, one operator in particular, Ethel Burns, the widowed mother of Janice, Paul, and Stan, seemed to place many more of Ray's calls than her co-workers. This may have been because their schedules coincided; it may have been something else. Ethel said that it got to the point that she knew when an incoming call was from Raymond Duell of Seibert, Colorado, and that sometimes, particularly when he was in a very chatty or teasing mood, she would let another operator handle the call. We don't know how many calls it took, but Raymond was very persistent and Ethel eventually agreed to a date with him. The date apparently went pretty well as they were married on December 31, 1961 in a private ceremony at the Lutheran church in Genoa, Colorado. After school let out that year the family moved to Flagler, Colorado where they lived next door to the Lyle Stone family, and later at the Gaines farm west of Flagler. Ray and Ethel's son, Charles, was born in May of 1963 and the family moved to the new house Ray built east of Flagler in the winter 1963-64, where he lived until his death. Ray continued to farm until the day he died. He knew many people and hired many hands over the years. While he distained becoming a teacher as he siblings had, he had a knack for teaching his children and employees. He had great respect for the skill and talent of others wherever he saw it and was, himself, very talented mechanically. He had the mind of an engineer and the heart of a farmer. Ray was a perpetual optimist and always looked for the good in people. He was preceded in death by his brother Lowell Duell, Lowell’s wife Bertha, and his grandson, Kevin Burns. He will be sorely missed by those whose lives he touched. He was preceded in death by his brother Lowell Duell, Lowell’s wife Bertha, and his grandson, Kevin Burns. He will be sorely missed by those whose lives he touched. He is survived by Ethel, his wife and partner of fifty years, his sister Margaret Christiansen of Lodi, CA, his brother Ralph Duell (Wava) of Goodland KS; his children Jan (Joe) Layton, Paul (Anita) Burns, Stan (Willie) Burns, and Charles (Nancy) Duell; grandchildren Shawn (Lisa), Chad, Heath (Leigh Ann) and Cody (Chelsea) Layton, Tandy (Jake) Nossaman, Jason and Kelsey Burns, and Nathan and Karissa Burns; great-grand children Mary Lee, Katheryn, Chance, Tyler, Gabby, Kendrick, Tyce and Weslon; and many nieces and nephews.