Ray Aikins

January 8, 2013

Ray Aikins, 87, LaHar-pe, passed away Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013 at his residence.
Ray was born at South Mound on Sept. 30, 1925, the son of Oliver and Anna (Beecher) Aikins.
He married Zana Neagle on June 29, 1945 in Girard. To this union, his children were born. They later divorced. On Feb. 5, 1982 he married Helen Christy in Miami, Okla. She preceded him in death on May 14, 2001.
When Ray was young he and his family moved to a farm near Shaw and he attended South Valley School. Ray and his twin brother, Roy, joined the Navy. During WWII he served in the South Pacific and was at the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He was awarded the WWII Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with two stars, and the Philippine Victory Bar. After the war he worked at the Army Ammunition Plant in Parsons. In 1955 he started working for the Chanute Fire Department and later he worked for the Chanute Police Department as a patrolman. After his retirement in 1976 he drove a bus for USD 413 for several years.
Ray is survived by six children, Steve and Glenda Aikins, Altamont, Linda and Leon Heer, Pittsburg, Rita and Rick Berntsen, Iola, Richard and Lisa Aikins, Mound City, Scott and Ellen Aikins, Humboldt, and Nancy and David Axtell, Wichita; 17 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, several step-grandchildren and one brother, Dean Aikins, Chanute.
He was preceded in death by his parents; five brothers, Clarence, Carl, Forrest, Harry, and his twin, Roy Aikins; one sister, Babe Thompson; one grandson, Steve Aikins, Jr.; and his first wife, Zana Aikins.
The family will receive friends today from 6 to 8 p.m. at Penwell-Gabel Johnson Chapel.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, at Iola Baptist Temple, 426 N. Second, Iola. Burial will follow in Mt. Moriah Cemetery in rural Stark.
Memorials may be made to the Ray Aikins Mission Fund and will be used for Christian mission work and may be left with Penwell-Gabel Johnson Chapel, which is in charge of arrangements.