Ray Anthony Doyen

Born December 16, 1924 in Rice, KS
Died January 10, 2016, Concordia, KS

Ray recently celebrated his 91st birthday and died peacefully at Sunset Home in Concordia, Kansas.


Ray attended Rice country school, then graduated from Concordia High School in 1942. While in high school, he received the James F Lincoln Foundation Award and scholarship for excellence in welding.
After high school, he continued working on the family farm and ultimately attended Kansas State University. While at K-State, he was a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, where he was house manager. He would return to Rice on weekends with his brothers to help his parents with the family farm.
In college, he met Peggy Patterson, and they were married on September 7, 1949, in Emporia, Kansas. After graduation from K-State in 1950, with a bachelor's degree in Agronomy, he and Peggy moved to Cloud County, where they resided ever since.
In the early 1950s, Ray & Peggy purchased their farm, which adjoins the Cloud Ceramics brick plant. Beginning in 1956, Ray's welding expertise was utilized in building the Cloud Ceramics modern 403 ft. tunnel kiln. He was a lifelong farmer who was always willing to lend a helping hand, and he enjoyed mentoring young farmers.
Ray was intrigued by advancing tornado formations and took a series of four photos of the devastating 1957 tornado with a brownie camera, ultimately published in Life Magazine.
Ray played piano and mandolin and had a lifelong appreciation of music - from Lawrence Welk to Opera. He was a former board member of the Concordia Community Concert Association. He enjoyed stepping in as a substitute teacher for his brother Lee at Cloud County Community College. In the 1980s, Ray adopted the Great White Way stone arch bridge at Rice and oversaw its restoration. This landmark has been visited and enjoyed by thousands over the years.
Ray loved to travel and the family remembers many camping trips across the United States, including trips to the Seattle World's Fair, the Great Smokey Mountains, Pikes Peak, and the Vanderbilt Mansion. Ray especially enjoyed visiting Doyen relatives in Belgium that Peggy located in her genealogy research. Ray will be remembered as having a creative, inquisitive and mechanical mind; he enjoyed analyzing how things work and even took apart Peggy's brand new sewing machine before she had a chance to use it!
Ray is survived by his wife Peggy L Doyen, Concordia; daughters Marsha Rae Doyenne, Concordia; Diane Denise Johnson and husband Craig Eugene Johnson, Cortland, NE; Amie Yvonne Doyen, Concordia; grandson Jared Anthony Johnson and wife Jessica Marie, Lincoln, NE; great-grandson Eli Dwain Johnson, Lincoln, NE; brother Mark Doyen and wife Marjorie, Bartlesville, OK; sister-in-law Katherine Doyen, Beloit, KS; seven nieces and nephews, and many other family members, friends, and his cats, Tippy and Molly.
He was preceded in death by his infant son Hal Douglas Doyen; parents Orville "Bo" and Millie Derby Doyen; brother Lee Doyen and sister-in-law Peggy Doyen; and brother Ross Doyen.
Ray was a passionate believer in hospice and was a past hospice board member. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to Meadowlark Hospice or Sunset Home.