Former Jemison Mayor Kenneth Leon Ray passed away April 8, 2012, Easter Sunday.

Ray served on the Jemison City Council and as mayor for 12 years, from 1994 to 2004.

“He will truly be missed in the community,” said councilwoman Faye King, who served two four-year terms as mayor pro tempore when Ray was mayor. “We had a good working relationship. He tried to do what was best for the town.”

King said Ray and her father were childhood friends.

“He was just a good person that had the best interest for the town,” King said of Ray. “He just loved people and loved the town.”

Ray was born on March 17, 1929, in Siluria and grew up in Jemison. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1945 when he was 15 years old.

He served for 21 years before retiring from the Navy, returned to Jemison with his family and began his council and mayoral terms.

“He was a good mayor,” said councilman George Brasher, who also served two terms with Ray. “He’d do anything to help anybody in this town. He helped me out a lot, too.”

Ray is survived by his wife of 57 years, Constance J. Snyder Ray; son, John Kenneth Ray of Alabaster; daughters, Victoria Lynn Ray of California, Nancy Jo Ray and Robin Lynn Ray, both of Jemison, and Laurie Lou Ray Konrad of Bellevue, Neb.; sisters, Shirley Ann Watson Mims and Betty Sue Watson Williams of Jemison; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at the Jemison City Hall Annex on Thursday, April 12 at 6:30 p.m.

A burial service will be held at the National Veteran’s Cemetery in Montevallo on Friday, April 13 at 10:15 a.m.