Ava Irene Ray, 87, Lone Jack, Missouri, died Tuesday, June 23, 2015 at Kansas City Hospice House in Kansas City, Missouri. Funeral services will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, June 27, 2015 at the First Baptist Church of Checotah in Checotah, Oklahoma with burial in Council Hill Cemetery, Council Hill, Oklahoma. Visitation will be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday, June 25, 2015 at the Atkinson Funeral Home in Harrisonville, Missouri. Memorial contributions may be made to Kansas City Hospice House, 1500 Meadow Lake Parkway, Suite 210, Kansas City, MO 64114.

Ava was born July 18, 1927 in Limestone, Arkansas, the daughter of Amos Farris and Etta May (Ashlock) Pruitt. She married Harvey Eugene Ray on January 27, 1948 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Ava worked for the State of Oklahoma Welfare Department. She enjoyed bowling, sewing, baking, cooking. Ava loved spending time outdoors, camping and painting. Ava also enjoyed singing and listening to audio books of the Bible. She loved her family; she was a wonderful mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and aunt.

Ava was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Gene on May 20, 2011, one son, Harry Ray and his wife, JoAnn, three brothers, Wilburn "Bill" Pruitt, Willard Pruitt, Harold Pruitt, three sisters, Orpha Staton, Jesse Tobey and Jewell VanBrunt. She is survived by one daughter, Shirley Veatch and her husband, Rick, Lone Jack, Missouri; her sister-in-law, Euleta Pruitt, Okmulgee, Oklahoma; 5 grandchildren, Josh Ray (Laura), Audra Bryson (Chip), Courtney Hull (Ryan), Olivia Veatch, Aaron Veatch (Ashley); and 11 great-grandchildren, Madi, Kylie, Lindsey, Macie, Dominic, Sydney, Corbin, Ryleigh, Kaylee, Molly, and Miles.