Raymond Russell

Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 21, 2011, at 2:00 p.m., at Niewoehner Funeral Home, Rugby, for Raymond Leroy Russell, 98, of Rugby, who died Wednesday, May 18 at the Heart of America Medical Center in Rugby.

Burial will be in Persilla Watts Cemetery.

Raymond was born January 24, 1913 on the family homestead in York Township, Benson County, North Dakota, a son of Timothy Elmer and Lucy (Morkert) Russell. He graduated from York High School in 1932. He worked on the family farm and farmed there until 1988. He married Minnie Grace Redshaw on June 12, 1939 in Sidney, Mont. In 1988 they moved to the Haaland Manor in Rugby. Minnie died on May 21, 1999.

Raymond served on the York Township Board of Supervisors for 51 years and was secretary-treasurer of the Leeds Rural Fire Protection District and Leeds Fire District for 32 years. He also served on the local ASCS Committee for six years.

The Russell farm, homesteaded by his parents and his grandmother, Dorothy Russell, was designated a Centennial Farm in 1989, having been in the same family for over 100 years.

He is survived by his son, Ray, Lake Metigoshe, and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife, his parents, and a granddaughter, Barbara Russell; brothers, John, Timothy, Harold and Howard; and sisters, Mayme Christen, Cleo Brown, Pauline Graves and Shirley Pietron.

Pastor Brenda Burns will officiate. Music will be provided by Dianne Montonye, organist.

Friends and family will serve as casketbearers.

Arrangements by Niewoehner Funeral Home, Rugby.