Ray Mason

Ray Mason

Morton - Ramon H. "Ray" Mason, a Morton attorney for nearly 60 years and the founder of "Morton's first law office," died peacefully at 7:05 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at Apostolic Christian Restmor in Morton, shortly before his 93rd birthday.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, 2011, at Knapp-Johnson Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Morton, where a Masonic service will follow the visitation. A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 22 at Atlanta Cemetery in Atlanta, Ill.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 29 at Community United Church of Christ in Morton, with the Rev. Jeffrey E. Johnston officiating. Special music will be performed by the Central Illinois Banjo Club and the Edward and Janet Kaizer Combo of Bradley University's Department of Music.

He was born Raymond Hawes Mason on Jan. 19, 1918, in Atlanta, Ill., to Walter R. and Litta (Hawes) Mason. As an adolescent, he began to spell his first name "Ramon" (pronounced "RAY-men"), at the suggestion of his older brother Dale and perhaps under the influence of the Mexican silent-film star Ramon Novarro. His first name was legally changed to "Ramon" in 1942.

He married his high school sweetheart, Mary Alice Thompson, on July 3, 1943, at Eminence Christian Church in rural Atlanta, and was a devoted husband for 53 years, in her sickness and in her health. She died Aug. 3, 1996.

He also was preceded in death by an infant son, Robert, in 1951; two brothers; a half brother; a half sister and an infant half sibling.

Survivors include two sons, John Mason of Silver Spring, Md., and Craig Mason of Morton; and a granddaughter, Tomiko Mason of Silver Spring.

A 1935 graduate of Atlanta Community High School and a member of the Atlanta High School Alumni Association, he worked in the 1930s for various central Illinois grocers, including his family's store in Atlanta.

He received his bachelor's degree, in marketing, in 1942 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where, during the big band era, he played drums for four years with the Johnny Bruce Orchestra. His life-long enthusiasm for drumming began when he was very young. In 2008 he said, "I recall my mother playing the piano and teaching me to keep time as I pounded on my first snare drum, a round five-pound tin of Campfire Marshmallows from my dad's grocery store."

A World War II and Korean War Army veteran, he served from 1942 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1952, graduating from Officer Candidate School and the Command and General Staff School, where he prepared for the anticipated invasion of Japan. He attained the rank of Captain. He served in the Army Reserve from 1946 to 1951. In 2008 he recalled, "During my time in the budget, fiscal and finance departments of the Army, I had to study regulations and issue opinions on them, and that helped lead me to an interest in the law." He was a lifetime member and former judge advocate of American Legion Post 318 in Morton. He was a lifetime charter member of the National World War II Memorial Society and a charter member of the National World War II Museum. His account of his Army service appears in the book "Tazewell County Veterans of World War II: Remembrances."

He taught introductory economics at the University of Illinois while attending its College of Law, from which he graduated in 1949. He later attended continuing education courses at Harvard Law School.

Believed to be Morton's first full-time, resident lawyer, he began the practice of general civil law in November 1949, in Morton, where, aside from Army service, he practiced into his 90th year. On July 1, 2008, he officially took what he called early retirement but remained active in his church and community to his dying day, his death coming just hours after he had attended his weekly Rotary meeting.

He was a single practitioner until 1981. Thomas A. Krieg was his associate from 1981 to 1987 and his partner from 1988 to 2008.

In 2008, at the Governor's Mansion in Springfield, he was honored for his commitment to his profession and his community with induction into the Senior Illinoisans Hall of Fame, which recognizes distinguished service by Illinoisans age 65 or older.

He was named Grand Marshal of the 2010 Morton Pumpkin Festival parade.

In 1962-63, he and his family were hosts to Morton's first foreign exchange student, Fritz Mattejat of Germany.

He served as school board and school district attorney for Morton and Pleasant Hill during the years when Morton High School and three of Morton's four elementary schools were planned and built. He had also served as attorney for the Village of Morton.

He had served as a legal adviser to the Capital Campaign Committee for the Bertha Frank Performing Arts Center in Morton.

He had served on the Tazewell County Selective Service Board, as president of the Morton Parent Teacher Association, president and board member of Morton Community Chest, and as co-chair of Morton's Inter-Church Crusade Executive Committee in 1968.

He had served as a corporate secretary of Morton Progress Inc. and was instrumental in the founding of the Morton Youth Council on Civic Affairs, the Hopedale Investment Co., and the Hopedale Development Co.

He served for 37 years as a director of Community Bank of Hopedale and in 1995 was named Better Banks of Illinois Director of the Year.

A co-founder of We Care Inc., a social service organization providing food and transportation to those in need, he was a former member of its board and its foundation's board. He also was a current or former director of Eminence Grain and Coal Co., Action Concepts, Heartland Home of Seniors, the Morton Temple Association and Project Daybreak Inc., a pioneering effort in adult day care.

He was a past member of the board of Morton Chamber of Commerce and the co-recipient of the chamber's 1994 Distinguished Service Award. In 2005 he received a Longevity Award from the chamber, and Mason and Krieg Law Offices received a chamber Golden Pumpkin Award in 2007.

A lifetime member, former president and 50-year honoree of the Tazewell County Bar Association, he also was a lifetime member of the American and Illinois State bar associations and a past member of the Illinois State Bar Association's Committee on Judicial Advisory Polls. The ISBA named him a Senior Counsellor in 1999.

He was a lifetime member of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity and served as vice justice of its Magruder chapter while in law school.

He was a 61-year member of Community United Church of Christ, Morton's oldest continuous congregation, where, in addition to providing free legal services to the church, he had served as council member and president; co-chair of the Visitation Evangelism Group and of the Serve and Grow Campaign; Sunday school teacher; a co-founder of the Continuing Gifts Ministry; and a member of boards, study groups, the Long Range Planning Committee, the Church and Community Project Committee, the Community Center SOAR Group, adult Sunday school, Men's Fellowship, Sunday Nighters, Friends over Sixty and American Cancer Society Relay for Life teams.

He was a lifetime member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association, the Morton Historical Society, Kennel Lake Sportsmen's Club and Morton Lodge 352 AF & AM.

He was a member of the John E. Cribbet Society of the University of Illinois College of Law and the Presidents Council of the University of Illinois Foundation. He and other members of the Ray and Ida (Crihfield) Thompson family received the University of Illinois College of ACES Alumni Association Family Spirit Award for 2004.

He was a