Ray Cathey

Ray Cathey, 85, passed away Friday, Dec. 16, 2016, in Granbury.

Service: 11 a.m. Tuesday at First Baptist Church in Granbury. Interment: Granbury Cemetery. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Wiley Funeral Home.

Ray was born July 19, 1931, in Wingate to the late John and Ila Fisher Cathey. He was an all-state fullback on the 1948 Monahans High School State Championship football team. He attended Texas Christian University on a football scholarship and married his high school sweetheart, Eva Jackson, June 24, 1950 in Fort Worth. Together they had two children, Julie and Allan. The family moved to Granbury in 1958.

Ray was a member of the Hood County Rescue squad, Little League baseball coach and an engineer for Bell Helicopter, retiring after 35 years of service. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Granbury and enjoyed woodworking, hunting and fishing with his good friends, Charlie Brazzel and Don Gibbons. He particularly enjoyed vacations, as far away as Canada that he and Eva would take with their two granddaughters, Katie and Amy.

Ray was preceded in death by Eva on Oct. 9, 2013 after 63 years of marriage and his daughter, Julie Cathey, Sept. 27, 1966.

Survivors: Son, Allan Cathey and wife, Lori, of Granbury; granddaughters, Katie Cathey Thompson and husband, Dustin, and Amy Cathey of Houston; sister, Mary Wein of Fort Worth; and niece, Vicki Gonzales and husband, Robert, of Mansfield.