Ray Seaton Taylor, age 87, of Broken Bow, Nebraska went to be with his Lord and savior May 6, 2026, just 7 hours before his 88th birthday. I’m sure you’re reading this and thinking “the math ain’t mathin”. For the first 65 years of Ray’s life, he celebrated his birthday on May 7th. When he turned 65 and qualified for Medicare/Social Security, everything was denied. We eventually discovered that his birth certificate read “May 9”, so going forward that’s the date we went with. The amusing part was, birthdays were always an extremely big deal to Dad. We had a lot of fun with “they really did take your birthday away”, “now I suppose we have to celebrate both days”, etc. Either way, dad was always told that he was born during a really bad blizzard. The conditions were so bad that the only way they could get dad’s mom from Comstock to Loup City to deliver, was via a handcar on the railroad tracks. Several men from Comstock worked together to pull this task off.
Ray was born to Seaton Ray and Elsie M. (Atkins) Taylor. Ray attended school in Comstock, Nebraska. Ray loved and excelled in sports, playing football, basketball, and track all four years of high school. Ray graduated from Comstock High School in 1957. After high school Ray worked for numerous farmers, ranchers, and businessmen around the Comstock area.
August 7, 1967, Ray was united in marriage to Judy Haumont. The newlyweds moved to North Platte, Nebraska where they worked on area ranches until 1973. While in North Platte, the couple was blessed with a newborn baby, James Ray in 1971. Also, during this time a life-long and treasured friendship was made with Kyle and Sandy McQueen of North Platte.
In 1973, Ray and Judy moved back to the family farm. In 1985 Ray and Judy had a son Jess Riley and completed their family with a baby girl JennaRae Lucille in 1987. Ray worked for his father-in-law Art Haumont from 1973 until Art passed away in 1991. After Art’s passing, Ray and Judy continued to operate the family farm and grow their cow numbers. Their cow herd was built from one Brown Swiss Milk cow that was given to them by Judy’s parents as a wedding gift. To provide additional off-farm income, Ray worked 13 years as a certified nurses aid at Heritage and Independence Hall Nursing Home. Ray then cleaned the Custer County Court House for several years until finally “retiring” and helping his son Jess farm and ranch until he was well into his 80’s.
Outside the farm, Ray’s hobbies were fairly limited. Once he slowed down from helping on the farm, he loved to read. And boy did he read! Westerns were his preference, but really no book was safe! And rereading a book several times wasn’t off limits either. I believe at last count, he’d gotten through the Bible seven times. In the fall, if the Nebraska Cornhuskers were playing football, Ray was guaranteed to be either watching the game on TV or listening to it on the radio. I’m not sure a game was ever played that he had at least one “Ohhhh! They just ain’t got it!” wasn’t shouted out! One of Ray’s favorite days of the year was the 4th of July, and attending the annual Comstock 4th of July Parade and festivities. He loved catching up with Pirate alumni and friends. Ray was a quiet and reserved guy, but if you were to catch him one on one and he could sure talk. Many friends and neighbors commented over the years that “you could talk to Judy or Jess for hours and not find out much. But after 10 minutes of talking to Ray, you found out EVERYTHING!” Especially in his later years, Ray certainly enjoyed visiting with friends and family on the phone.
Ray is survived by children: James (Janelle) Taylor of McCook, Jess (Elise) Taylor of Broken Bow, and JennaRae Taylor of Edmond, Oklahoma. Grandchildren: Kasey, Kaleb, Katie, Colton, Travyn, Cadence, and Brooklyn and many other family and friends.
Ray was preceded in death by his parents, wife (Judy), and sister (Verla Dean Schufeldt)
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 10:30 AM at the Broken Bow Berean Church. Burial will follow in the Broken Bow Cemetery. A visitation and time to greet the family will be held on Tuesday, May 19th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at Govier Brothers Mortuary. Online words of remembrance or condolences may be left at govierbrothers.com
