Raymond Emanuel Novotny
July 6,1921- Sept. 5, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 10:25 AM PDT
Ontario
“Only once in every blue moon or so a community wakes up to the realization that within their midst is a person almost universally loved. Such a man is Ray Novotny.” (Burns Times Herald, 12/ 21/ 1967).
Ray Novotny was born July 6, 1921 in Lewiston, Montana. He died at his home in Ontario, Oregon on September 5, 2009 attended by Rose, his beloved wife of 38 years. Throughout his 88 years of life, he touched and changed the lives of thousands of individuals.
Born to Robert and Martha Novotny, he shared his young life with his brothers, Ernest, his twin Robert and William, all proceeding him in death. The family moved to Nebraska and then on to Douglas County Wyoming in 1927. Ray, his brothers and father were true mountain men. They hunted, fished, logged and worked really hard at all they did.
Ray and Robert attended the school at Morton until their junior years, 1939, when they moved into Riverton. They built a 'one room shack to live in' for “a roof over their heads' and batched their ways through their senior year. Working multiple jobs for meals and some cash, they graduated. Ray received several football scholarship offers, accepting the one from University of Wyoming because the school agreed to have his twin join him as the team manager. Ray played end and back positions for the Cowboy football team. Although he excelled at footfall, his love was basketball.
In his junior year, when America entered WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Ray hitchhiked home to get his parent's written permission to enlist in the Marines. He was selected for officer's training, eventually becoming a First Lieutenant. He spent time in Guadalcanal, Guam and the Okinawa campaign. Ray was present at the official surrender of the Japanese at Tsintoa, China. After spending 8 months in China after the surrender, he returned to U. of Wyoming to finish his studies. He graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor's in argronomy and animal production.
He worked 31 years for the Extension Service. For 5 years after graduation, he worked for the Wyoming extension service, leaving to take the County Extension Agent position for Harney County in 1951. Ninety percent of Harney's income was dependent on agriculture; and Ray spent the next years concentrating on programs to upgrade its livestock industry which included increased forage production and livestock performance testing.
Ray was dedicated to improving the quality of life in rural America. In one year, he logged 20,000 job-related miles. In Harney County, Ray provided leadership to one of the nation's most extensive sagebrush eradication and range land management programs. He organized spraying for over 250 thousand acres of sagebrush and the revitalization of over 30,000 acres with the seeding of crested wheat grass. He successfully promoted and helped form an electrical cooperative in rural Harney County. Ray worked tirelessly to obtain electricity and then phones to 300 homes in rural areas. In 1957, he was one of an official party which switched on electricity to Crane High School, the electrical co-op's first customer. The electricity was instrumental in development of large irrigation project in Harney and northern Humboldt County Nevada.
Ray was all things to all people. He advocated for agriculture. He was integrally involved in 4-H and youth programs. He promoted Delintment LakeYouth Camp and then worked to successfully replace the aging facility with Lake Creek Camp. Harney Chamber named him “Citizen of the Year” in 1955, “Man of the Year” and “Father of the Year” in 1957. That same year, Harney citizens thanked him for his hard work by giving him a surprise: a trip to the Sugar Bowl to watch his Wyoming team play. He belonged to multiple civic organizations including Elks and Masons.
He completed his Master's in Range Improvement at Oregon State in 1970. In 1972 Ray took the County Agent's position in Malheur County where he continued his agricultural and civic work.
He created the Grass and Top Op tours of ranch and farm operations. In Malheur, he worked to reorganize the Dairy Herd Improvement Association, watching it develop into a viable group. The National Association of County Agricultural Agents recognized Ray for public relations in 1977 and distinguished service in 1978. In 1978, Ray retired from Extension. He was later honored, 1995, for his service and added to the Diamond Pioneer Agricultural Registry.
Although known best for his work in agriculture, he and his wife Rose operated Novotny Realty for several years after his retirement from Extension.
He is survived by people who love and will truly miss him which include his wife Rose, daughters Sharyn, Mona, Teresa and Cheryl, son David, grandchildren and beloved friends too plentiful to name. One of the many messages he taught was, “If you're going to do something, do it to the best of your ability, or don't do it at all.” His life is a reflection of this. Ray will rest in a special spot in his beloved Wyoming mountains near his twin and niece. Final arrangements are being made by Lienkaemper-
Thomason in Ontario where remembrances may be sent. If desired, donations can go to the 4-H Foundation.
