Obituary Raymus Karl Payton May 27, 2016
May 27, 2016
Obituaries
Raymus Karl Payton
November 25 1917 thru May 16 2016
Raymus Karl Payton, 98, of Hendricks Circle, died May 16, 2016 at Mercy Hospital, Fort Smith AR. He was born in Missouri, the son of Bert and Elsie Payton.
He was the oldest of four boys. He lived most of his life in California having moved to AR, a few years after the marriage of his wife, Edith, who was born in AR and lived the majority of her life in Fort Smith.
Mr. Payton graduated from Santa Paula High School. Although he never received any formal degree in Civil Engineering he worked as a construction contractor facilitating many projects to include Big Bear High School in Californian and the Alaskan Pipeline. He also helped with the construction of many homes throughout Ojai / Ventura County.
While Mr. Payton spent most of his career working in construction I civil engineering his passion was innovating new computer programs; marketing of products that would be user friendly for consumers. He would later go on to develop his company, Big Bear Exchange wherein he would focus his attention for the last 25 years of his life. He was involved in the every aspect of his business, he was very meticulous and paid attention to detail regarding the design and product output.
After the death of his wife, he met Billie Johnson with whom he would enjoy karaoke and dancing every Friday night at the local Eagles Club. He was not one for being shy, he enjoyed being in the spot light; whether at Disneyland or the local Eagles Club, he would tear up the dancing the floor with what he called “free style dancing”.
He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the Construction Battle USN CTC, 5th Special NCB division. In this capacity he was assigned to the Naval Construction Battalion, CB’s (Seabees) in the Asiatic Pacific and the Philippine Liberation American Theater. He served from Nov, 1942 thru Nov, 1945. It is during this time that the Bureau of Navigation authorized the recruiting of men from the construction trades for assignment to a Naval Construction Regiment composed of three Naval Construction Battalions. He was part of the personnel that went ahead of the soldiers to prepare roads, airstrips and underwater ship blasting for ship channels. He was proud to have served for his county and for what the Seabees stood for “We Build, We Fight”
He is survived by 6 children, Rocky Payton of Lyons Colorado, Roxanna Payton, Adriana Payton-Kruska, Johnny Payton, Yesenia Payton-Solis, Raymus Payton all of Orange County, California. 9 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
Services will be held June 4, 2016 at 10:00 AM at the Haven Heights Baptist Church 7701 US 271 Fort Smith, Arkansas. A later burial date will be set at the U.S. National Cemetery.
A reception will be held immediately after the service at the Eagle’s Club 3321 S 66th St Fort Smith, Arkansas. Arrangements under the direction of Lewis-Roberts Funeral Chapel 4817 Kelley Hwy Fort Smith, Arkansas.
To place an online tribute, go to www.lewisfuneralchapel.net
