Ray Stanford Courtney
March 23, 1936 - November 29, 2024

Ray Stanford Courtney, age 88, of Monticello AR passed away on Friday November 29, 2024.

Ray was born March 23, 1936, in Little Rock to Jessie Clyde and Bessie Blanch Courtney. He grew up as the oldest of 3 sons on a small farm in Mabelvale (Southwest Little Rock) during what he would always say was the best time anybody could ever live. A time with the only music worth listening to and the only cars worth driving.

A 1953 graduate of Mabelvale High School, Ray also attended Arkansas A&M College, now known as UAM, where he played football.

Ray loved to share the stories of his youth, from meeting Elvis at his cousin Preston's service station, to drag racing in the Little Rock area, working with his father on his Curtiss Candy sales route, or any of the countless adventures he got into with his brothers and friends.

He was the self-proclaimed Ski King and taught the kids in his life to ski. Many hours were spent skiing and fishing at Lake Hamilton with his brothers and generations of his family. He said they always wanted to ski the lake in a gorilla suit, which comes as absolutely no surprise to those that knew him. The lake house was the summer meeting place and brought us all fond memories.

He always kept ties to Southeast Arkansas, even when working and living abroad. Ray and his brothers formed the Courtney Deer Camp, South of Cominto, near the Courtney family home site. He always spoke of how great a time it was spent with his brothers and other members of the camp. Ray said that is was heaven until someone in the camp had the crazy idea to have a telephone installed.

Ray loved to read and talk about any of the issues of the day. As he would say, he could gladly solve any of the problems of the world if he could be in charge for just 24 hours. He could fix anything that was broken with either a piece of wire, duct tape, or F-26 glue. If it couldn't be fixed by Ray, he would claim it couldn't be fixed.

Many in Monticello know him from his time building and working at Timberlane Golf Course. With no previous experience in building a golf course, Ray saw an opportunity to create something special in Monticello. Working with his family and limited equipment, he took scrubby timber land on clay soil and built that golf course. It was amazing how committed he was, usually working a project the hard way simply because it was the right way, and always with overkill just to be sure. One of his favorite expressions was ''I'm going to ease in there with a backhoe and…''. This usually worked out, but when it didn't it was immensely spectacular and even more memorable. Ray had tireless energy and boundless ingenuity. He took those skills to build a business that sponsored charity events, introduced golf to students, and provided mini golf for families. He also built a community of people that played and visited the golf course who all became a part of the family. Ray was always very proud of the business and community that he built there.

Never a person to rely on technology and having an underlying disdain for computers, he kept updated pages and pages of notes and little books with everyone's phone numbers and birthdays. One of the worst things to happen was when state newspaper went digital in Monticello because then he didn't have a corner to smudge and crumple when he would read off a tablet. He left his mark on the upper right corner of the page in every book, magazine, and newspaper he read.

He was a man of deep faith and loved to study and talk the Bible. He lived the life he preached and was always proud to be able to help anyone with any of the gifts and skills he had. He was a loved member of his family and the Cominto Baptist Church family. He will be missed by all that knew him.

Ray is survived by his loving wife Cass Dattilo Courtney, his daughters Raelynn Courtney of Little Rock, son Tony Courtney of Hot Springs, Carmen Baugh and husband Russell of Manteca, California, Josh Martin and wife Sarah of Monticello, and Sarah Martin of Fayetteville, 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. He is proceeded in death by his parents, Jesse and Bessie Courtney, his brothers David and John Courtney, son Kevin Courtney, and great-grandson Grayson Cash Eoff.

The family would like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Reinhart, and staff of Arkansas Hospice Monticello, for the care and kindness they showed to Ray and the family. In lieu of flowers, please sent a donation to Arkansas Hospice Monticello, 117 Westgate, Monticello AR., in memory of Ray, to continue their loving care for others.

A memorial service for Ray will be held on Friday, December 6, 2024, at 11:00 AM at the Stephenson - Dearman Funeral Home Chapel with Brother Michael Ivy officiating, 943 U.S. Hwy 425 North, Monticello AR. Inurnment will immediately follow at St. Mark's Catholic Church, 1016 North Hyatt St., Monticello, AR. You can sign Ray's guestbook here on his page.