Frank Guy RAY

RAY, CARRELL, POMEROY, SLEIGHT, FRAZELLE, MACNIDER, GRIFFIN, GAY, WHITESIDE, LATHAM, ROSEMAN, KNAPP, SHERMAN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/7/2011 at 00:03:03

Frank Guy Ray

Frank Guy RAY has been a resident of Vinton fifty-eight years. His activities have made Vinton a better place commercially and otherwise, and the community has come to look upon him not only as a landmark in business affairs, but as a sterling citizen whose support and helpfulness can always be relied upon when cooperative effort is needed.

Mr. RAY for many years was an active merchant. In 1891 he was one of the organizers of the State Bank of Vinton, becoming a member of the first board of directors, and since the death of Paul CARRELL, Mr. RAY has served as president of the bank. Recently the State Bank completed a new banking home, architecturally in keeping with the spirit of the times and also in keeping with forty years of splendid financial service the bank has rendered. This new building was opened for business, July 5, 1930.

Mr. RAY is a native of Illinois. He was born in Portland Township, Whiteside County, three miles southwest of Prophetstown, and the time of his birth as subsequently told him by his parents has always been fixed in his memory. It was just four hours before the advent of the new year, on December 31, 1851. His parents were Guy and Louise (POMEROY) RAY. His father came from Massachusetts and in 1835 made a trip of investigation through Illinois, discovering a tract of land that suited him, and in 1836 he came out to effect a permanent settlement. He became one of the prosperous farmers of Whiteside County, took an active part in local affairs, serving in township offices, and was one of the early voters of the Republican ticket. He was a Presbyterian. Guy Ray died in 1881. By his first marriage he had two daughters, Mrs. Emma R. SLEIGHT, of Moline, Illinois, and Mrs. Camilla FRAZELLE, of South Charleston, West Virginia. Louise POMEROY was his second wife. She was born in Ohio.

Frank Guy RAY as a boy on a farm attended the district schools regularly each winter until he was eleven. Then, after a lapse of four years, he resumed his schooling, three winters at Geneseo, Illinois, later as a student at Mount Morris, and his educational opportunities were rounded out with a year in Oberlin College of Ohio. In the meantime he had taught school one term in his old home district.

It was in 1873 that Mr. Ray came to Vinton, and being impressed by the appearance of prosperity and the character of the people and the opportunities of the outlying trade territory, he decided that this way the place to anchor himself permanently. He found employment in a local implement house, at a monthly salary, but two years later, in 1875, set up in business for himself. He and his partner conducted two implement stores, one at Vinton, and the other at Spencer, Mr. RAY in charge of the Vinton establishment and his partner at Spencer. After a few years they found it to their advantage in dissolve the partnership and each one take over entire responsibility for his local territory. Mr. RAY was in business for over thirty years. The steady enlargement of the volume of his annual sales was a source of great satisfaction to him, and also he found satisfaction in the commercial contacts he made with the farmers not only of the immediate locality, but those at a considerable distance as well. His dealings were such as to inspire confidence, and many of his steadiest customers were the Germans in the neighborhood. As an aid to doing business with them to better advantage he acquired a considerable familiarity with the German language.

Mr. RAY finally retired from the implement business, in 1909, and since then has devoted most of his time to banking, and the Portland Cement business and other interests. For a number of years he was a director of the Northwestern Portland Cement Company at Mason City, in which connection he was associated with Charles H. MacNIDER, father of Hanford MacNIDER, former national commander of the American Legion, and Mr. RAY counted the senior MacNIDER as one of his closest friends. About 1914 Mr. RAY became one of the organizers and directors of the Trinity Portland Cement Company, with headquarters at Dallas, Texas, and branch factories at Houston and Fort Worth, and still remains on this board, of which he holds the title of secretary. He is also one of the organizers and now president of the Iowa Canning Company, with headquarters at Vinton and six other branches in Iowa.

Mr. RAY is also president of the Virginia GAY Memorial Hospital, which is a credit to the City of Vinton. It was endowed with a gift of $100,000 by Doctor GRIFFIN and a $50,000 gift from Mrs. Virginia GAY.

He married Miss Emma WHITESIDE. who came from Pomeroy, Ohio. They were married September 13, 1876, at the bride's parental home. Mrs. RAY has been a life-long member and an active worker in the Presbyterian Church. They have two children. Their son, Earl K., first gained several years' banking experience and then took advantage of an opportunity to become an officer in the Corona Typewriter Company, which at that time was a comparatively new venture, and his ability and energy contributed largely to the success of the Corona Typewriter until it was merged with the L. C. Smith Company. His home is in New York City. He married Miss Mary LATHAM, of Vinton, and they have one daughter, Emma Janet, who married Leland E. ROSEMAN, of Boston, Massachusetts, and they have one son, Leland Ray ROSEMAN, who is the joy and pride of his great-grandparents. Mrs. ROSEMAN is an accomplished musician. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. RAY is Belle, who married Dr. J. M. KNAPP, of Boone.

Mr. RAY'S chief hobby and diversion is Masonry. He is a past master of his lodge, a past eminent commander of the Knights Templar and a member of the Clinton Consistory. The thirty-third, supreme honorary, degree in the Scottish Rite was conferred on him at his home by Ex-Governor B. R. SHERMAN, who was a member of the Supreme Council of Washington, D.C. In politics Mr. RAY is a Republican.

He is also known as the father of the Country Club at Vinton. It is a tribute to his youthful spirit that when the younger folks of Vinton need help in carrying through a project they turn to Mr. Ray for counsel. Thus they came to him with their need for a country club, and he devoted a large amount of his time for several years in personally supervising the actual construction of the club and in helping to work out the numerous problems involved, with the results that today Vinton is the recreational center of a considerable area, members coming from many miles around to use the facilities of the club.

Mr. and Mrs. RAY will soon celebrate their fifty-fifth wedding anniversary, and it is worthy of note that the contribution they have made to the development of our great State of Iowa and the heritage of honor they are thus able to pass on to their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren is a source of pride and satisfaction to all who know them.

SOURCE:
HARLAN, Edgar Rubey, LL.B., A.M. A Narrative History of The People of Iowa: With Special Treatment of Their Chief Enterprises in Education, Religion, Valor, Industry, Business. . . Vol. III. American Historical Society. 1931.

Transcription by Debbie Clough Gerischer for IAGenWeb's History Project