Mary "Lizzie" Elizabeth "Lizzie" Ray

Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Ray, age 91, of Garnett, Kansas, passed away on Monday, September 27, 2010, at Anderson County Long Term Care in Garnett. She was born on December 14, 1918, at Creighton, Missouri, the daughter of Oscar and Myrtle (Fenner) Cornett. She was the next to the youngest of nine children. At the age of three Lizzie made the trip to Kansas in a covered wagon. The family settled in the Mound City area. She attended school at Walnut Grove. Lizzie was united in marriage to Joe John Ray on August 21, 1941 in Garnett, Kansas. This union was blessed with two children. After Joe returned from World War II they lived in Linn County where they farmed. Lizzie raised a big garden every year and canned her harvest. She was renowned as being a good cook and fed everyone from family, to the bachelor neighbor who managed to drop by around suppertime, to the hobos Joe would occasionally find sleeping in the lane in the morning. She would never turn anyone away hungry. Lizzie was a person who cared for others. She kept her invalid mother in her home and took meals to her father-in-law and uncle every day. Joe and Lizzie moved to Anderson County in 1964 and lived and worked on the Giles Buffalo and Cattle Ranch east of Garnett. They later moved into Garnett and Lizzie worked at the City Caf and The Pantry until she retired. She was preceded in death by her husband, Joe Ray in 2000; her son and daughter-in-law, Ivan Leroy Ray and Connie Jean Ray; her grandson, Nathan Ray Lile in 1996; six brothers, Alva "Cap" Cornett, Galveston "Red" Cornett, Oscar Cornett Jr., Glenn "Joe" Cornett, Claude "Cub" Cornett and wife, Wilma, and Ivan "Tom" Cornett; two sisters, Flossie Cornett in infancy, and Lucy Mae (Cornett) Farris and her husband, George. Lizzie is survived by her daughter, Bonnie Jo Lile and husband Don of Garnett, Kansas; and two grandchildren, Tracy Lee Ray and wife Amber, and Michelle Marie Ray and Jason Furnish of Paola, Kansas; brother-in-law Wilbur "Bus" Ray and wife, LaVerne, of Velma, Oklahoma; nieces, nephews, and many loving friends. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 AM, Friday, October 1, 2010 at the Trinity Lutheran Church, Garnett, Kansas. Interment will follow in the Goodrich Cemetery, Goodrich, Kansas. The family will greet friends from 6:00-7:00 PM, Thursday evening at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be given to Feed the Children or to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and left in care of the funeral home.