Ray Stine

Ray Gene Stine, age 81 of North Loup, passed away at his home on February 18, 2023.

In honor of Ray, a Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, April 15, 2023; from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the North Loup Community Building. We will break bread and enjoy telling stories about Ray and his life. A private inurnment will be in the Hillside Cemetery at North Loup.

Condolences can be sent to Kimberli Stine, 46058 825th Road, Burwell, NE 68823.

Ray was born April 16, 1941, in Grand Island, Nebraska to Roy and Beulah (Willoughby) Stine. He graduated from North Loup High School (last graduating class) in 1959 and earned a degree from Kearney State College: Bachelor's Degree in Education in 1963.

Ray taught school for several years.  He started in Scotia, NE teaching math and then moved to Grand Island and taught Business and Math at Walnut Junior High School.

Ray lived in Omaha from 1977 to 1994 where he worked at a Deli Sandwich Company and at a couple of different Nightclubs bartending, He loved telling his son, Craig stories about his time bartending – like when they made 55 gallon wood drum kegs of Margaretta mix on Thursday nights.

In the late 80's to mid-90's, Ray started a business of buying and remodeling houses to either resell or rent in Northeast Omaha.  Ray then moved to Denver, Colorado and worked for an apartment complex as their maintenance supervisor in 1994.

In 1995, Ray started working with a company building garages, he worked with a couple of other sub-contractors and after a year doing that they broke away and started sub-contracting for Champion Windows and Doors in 1997. During that time, he worked with his son, Craig, as his business partner until he became manager for Champion windows in 1998. Ray then transferred to Wichita, Kansas to open a brand-new Champion window and be the first Manager with Craig moving with him to be his installer. Ray stayed there till 2003.

Ray then Moved to Junction City, Kansas where he drove Over-the-Road truck driving for Swift Transportation.  During this time, he purchased his own truck was driving cross country and started to train individuals truck driving.

Ray went overseas to work as a contractor for KBR as a truck driver in 2005 to  2007. He made a lot of lifetime friends and spoke very highly of his time there and was very proud of is contribution and had many fond and memorable moments that he truly cherished. He was truly grateful and felt that that was his way of serving his country. He was also very glad that he was able to spend the time over there with his son, Craig for 14 of those months, where he took the opportunity to travel to Thailand, his favorite place (3 times).

Ray returned from overseas in 2007, and spent a few months in Texas and then moved back to Omaha where he drove over-the-road trucks for Jim Bender and Morehouse Trucking until 2016.  Ray then moved to North Loup in 2010, where he bought his final home and drove back and forth to Omaha to drive for Jim Bender and Morehouse till he started to work for Sunrise Trucking out of Grand Island from 2016 until December of 2021, when he retired due to medical issues.

Ray is survived by daughter, Kimberli Stine and her husband, Jesse Sanchez of Burwell; son, Leslie 'Craig' Stine and wife, Yang of Rincon, GA; son, Douglas Stine of Burwell; grandchildren, Ben Appleby and his wife, Rachael of Carrollton, GA, Jessica and husband, Geoff Bokish of Arcadia, Chelsea Appleby of Fort Lauderdale, FL and Kandice and husband, Morgan Proctor of Apex, NC; and great-grandchildren, Elizabeth, Abigail, Amara, Cole, Jamison, Joel, and Magnolia.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Kaye; and two brothers, Wayne and Jerry.