Raymond Leland Prather

Prather, Raymond Leland, 78, died at his home Saturday January 12, 2008. Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 AM on Saturday, January 19th at the Downing Lahey East Mortuary, 6555 East Central, Wichita, Kansas. A graveside service will follow at 2:00 PM at the Eureka Cemetery. He was born on the family farm North and East of Eureka, Kansas on December 5th, 1929 to Myrtle Irene Bailey and Raymond Leonadus Prather. Ray was one of seven children and graduated from Eureka High School and then received his Bachelors of Science in Business from Kansas State University. He married Anne Amelia Runyan of Eureka and they had two sons, who they raised in Wichita, Kansas. Ray was an accountant, owning his own E.K. Williams firm until his retirement. He was athletic, entering college to play football as his father and a brother had done before him. He enjoyed golf and bowling, being in three bowling leagues at the time of his death. He coached his boys to be high school athletes, each lettering in both wrestling and football. He was always there encouraging them to continue their climb toward a higher education in more diverse fields than he had pursued. He was the caretaker of the family farm, which he managed from Wichita until it was sold. He enjoyed hunting the upland game there and at the Bailey Farm a few miles away. Raymond is survived by his two sons Edwin Leland and Stephen Eugene Prather, their mother Anne Amelia Clements, his two brothers, Philip Bailey and Kirk Lionel Prather, his grandchildren, Leland Jack and Robert Austin Prather, and 19 nephews and nieces. A graveside service will follow at 2:00 PM at the Eureka Cemetery.