North Platte lost a member of the Greatest Generation on Sept. 7, 2012.
leaves his legacy as a husband, a father, grandfather, great-grandfather and a citizen defending his country. He was 92 years old.
He witnessed first-hand, some of the worst that World War II’s Pacific Theater had to offer: The Aleutians, The Philippines and Okinawa. In fact, he arrived in the Pacific Theater the very day that the Battle of Attu began. In a world that must have seemed mad with killing and death, Ray Morse was committed to saving lives. He served in an Army Medical Battalion.
A native Nebraskan, Ray was born to parents Henry and Beulah Morse in Wallace. He graduated from Kearney High School in 1938, and went on to attend The University of Nebraska at Kearney, until his nation called for service.
He married Allene (Fisher) Morse in early 1950. He supported his family as a pipe fitter with the Union Pacific Railroad and retired in 1983. Retirement did not curtail his commitment to craftsmanship – he leaves behind a well-used shop in the basement of his longtime North Platte home, complete with a bench worn by countless hours of seated tinkering and reflection. You have not met a more practical man than Ray Morse.
His sisters, Helen Caldwell, of Boulder, Colo., and Louise Stafford, of New Jersey, preceded Ray in death.
He is survived by his wife, of 62 years, Allene Morse; his daughter, Nancy (Doug) Reifschneider; as well as his grandchildren, Jason (Angie) Hill and Dana (Walt) Morgan; four great-grandchildren, Adam Brubaker, Braedan Hill and Lydia and Gus Morgan. He will be missed by all.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Golden Living Center, Cozad or Aserscare Care Hospice, Kearney. Online condolences may be shared at carpentermemorial.com.
Services will be at 11 a.m. today, at Carpenter Memorial Chapel with Dr. Douglas Delp and Pastor Alison Frazier of the First United Methodist Church officiating. Burial will be at Floral Lawns Memorial Gardens with military honors graveside by the North Platte Veterans organizations.
Carpenter Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.