Ray Burton Williams

Ray Burton Williams, second of the four children of Alice Branson and John Henry Williams, was born 22 November 1907 at Mt. Bullion, Mariposa County, CA, where his father worked as a miner. The family remained at Mt. Bullion for another few years. Ray’s sister Ruth was born there in 1911, but by the birth of younger sister Frances in late 1914, mining had ceased to be a viable occupation and John had become a farmer in the area around Manteca, CA -- which meant that Ray came of age in a corner of San Joaquin County where many of his mother’s aunts, uncles, and first cousins dwelled.

Ray went to high school in Stockton. It was early in this part of his life that his father died. It is probable that Ray, along with his older brother Vernon, was called upon to help keep the Manteca farm going. However, within a few years Alice must have decided to sell the acreage. She married long-time neighbor Milton James Henry and moved to his farm, taking along Frances. Ray, Vernon, and Ruth were old enough that they went their own ways, as did Milton’s two children by his first wife.

Ray spent the early part of his adulthood kicking around at different jobs in different places, not just in California but in Texas and Mexico. Eventually his wanderings brought him to Woodland, Yolo County, CA. This was a place where other Branson clan members, the Salmons, had settled a quarter century earlier, but it appears Ray came not because of family connections, but for the same reason Jack and Irene Salmon had earlier been drawn there -- Woodland was where Spreckels Sugar Company had expansive beet plantations and many jobs to offer. Ray became a warehouse foreman.

As America continued to be involved in World War II, Ray decided to join the U.S. Army. He enlisted 27 May 1943 and soon was serving in the Pacific. However, by the time he reported for duty, he was a married man. Two days after his enlistment, on 29 May 1943, he married Leona Elizabeth Lorenz. Leona, daughter of Herman August Lorenz and Catherine Lammers, had been born 26 November 1910 in West Point, NE, and had been raised in that local area of Nebraska by her mother, who had been widowed when Leona was only a year old. Leona and her mother had moved to Woodland in 1939. Leona worked for the Woodland Daily Democrat newspaper.

Though Ray and Leona were not young when they became parents, they went on to have four children, whom they raised in Woodland. Ray was employed by Spreckels for over thirty years. While in Woodland, Ray was an active Catholic, belonging to Holy Rosary Parish and serving in the Knights of Columbus. In approximately 1990 the couple retired to Folsom, Sacramento County, CA. In Folsom, they belonged to St. John’s Parish.

Ray died 15 July 2005 at age ninety-seven. His death record shows Sacramento, CA as the venue, but this no doubt refers to the hospital where he expired. He and Leona were still residents of Folsom. She passed away in Folsom 13 February 2006.

Children of Ray Burton Williams with Leona Elizabeth Lorenz