Ray Futrell
Homer Ray Futrell was born on February 22, 1916 in Trigg County, Kentucky. He was the younger of two sons born to Lamont Benton Futrell and Sallie Roberta Thomas Futrell. His older brother was Charles Hobart Futrell, born in 1911. His father, Lamont, was a farmer who had inherited a part of his father’s farm located on the Cumberland River near the Linton community. Lamont was the brother of the well known Trigg County physicians, Drs. Elias and John Futrell.
Ray grew up in the Linton community and graduated from the Cadiz High School in 1933. He went on to attend Murray State University where he graduated in 1941.After graduation he went to work on his father’s farm in the Linton community.
On May 15, 1947, Ray married Jewel Kathryn Thomas in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Jewel was born on June 12, 1921 in Trigg County, the only child of Perry Amos Thomas and Hattie Bell Adams Thomas, both natives of Trigg County. Jewel graduated from Murray State University in 1943 and was a teacher for 31 years in the Trigg County school system before her retirement in 1976. Joe and Jewel had one son, Timothy Ray Futrell, born in 1948.
In 1949, Ray ran for the position of the Trigg County Property Valuation Administrator. The property valuation administrator (PVA) determines the value of property for tax purposes. The PVA is responsible for identifying property and its owners, listing property values on the assessment roll, and applying legal exemptions. For the following 32 years Ray was elected every four years as the PVA. During this entire period, he never faced an opposition in either in the primary or the general elections where his name was on the ballot. He also served on the board of directors of the state property valuation administrator’s association.
Ray and his family had moved to Cadiz while he was serving his terms as the PVA, but he continued to operate the family farms in the Linton community of Trigg County and near Trenton in Todd County.
On Thursday, January 22, 1981, Ray had been admitted to the Trigg County Hospital in Cadiz after suffering chest pains. Shortly thereafter he was transferred to the Jennie Stuart Hospital in Hopkinsville where he experienced further heart failure. Later that evening he was transferred to the St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville. There, following five hours of open-heart surgery, Ray died on Friday, January 23. He was 64 years old at the time of his death. He was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.
Jewel died on July 23, 1992 at a nursing home in Nashville at the age of 71. She was buried in the East End Cemetery next to her husband.
Ray Futrell Tombstone
Jewel Futrell Tombstone
LINEAGE: (Homer Ray Futrell was the son of Lamont Benton and Sallie Roberta Thomas Futrell and the grandson of William Henry and Sidney Dyer Thomas. William Henry was the third child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas. Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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