Pilot Tribune Thursday, September 11, 1930
Ray Dowden, son of Mrs. George Dowden of this city, died at Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tuesday morning following but a short illness. The body will be brought to Blair for burial. Funeral services have not been announced pending the arrival of the body.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~
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Ray was born December 17, 1891 in Gothenburg, Nebraska. When World War I came around, this short, slender young man applied for an exemption from active duty, saying he wanted to serve in a civil capacity overseas, because he was totally deaf in one ear, and was convinced he had a heart condition. At the time he was employed by the Pensacola Oil Company out of Oklahoma City as a "traveling solicitor" for oil. The clerk noted the deafness, and the heart concern, but Ray did in fact serve in the military in WWI, according to his Veteran records.

Pilot Tribune Thursday, September 11, 1930
Ray Dowden, son of Mrs. George Dowden of this city, died at Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tuesday morning following but a short illness. The body will be brought to Blair for burial. Funeral services have not been announced pending the arrival of the body.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~
********
Ray was born December 17, 1891 in Gothenburg, Nebraska. When World War I came around, this short, slender young man applied for an exemption from active duty, saying he wanted to serve in a civil capacity overseas, because he was totally deaf in one ear, and was convinced he had a heart condition. At the time he was employed by the Pensacola Oil Company out of Oklahoma City as a "traveling solicitor" for oil. The clerk noted the deafness, and the heart concern, but Ray did in fact serve in the military in WWI, according to his Veteran records.