Obituary

Jimenez, Raymundo
Raymundo Jimenez, age 92, of Plainview, passed away on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. Rosary will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015, at Lemons Memorial Chapel. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Father Arsenio Redulla as Celebrant. Interment will follow at Parklawn Memorial Gardens. Services are under the care of Lemons Funeral Home in Plainview, Texas. Raymundo was born on Jan. 7, 1923, in Weslaco, Texas, to Guadalupe and Carmen (Garcia) Jimenez. He was a farmer from the time he was a small boy, able to handle the mules to pull the plow. He farmed in the Rio Grande Valley. He dropped out of school after the ninth grade to drive the truck and take fruits and vegetables to market. Although his cousin had been drafted into the Army, Raymundo was not drafted because he was flat-footed, a farmer, and an only son. So he planted the crops, plowed the fields and helped his mother raise chickens, an occasional hog, a milk cow, fruit trees and lots of flowering plants and herbs. He married Juanita Salinas on Aug. 4, 1945, in Mission Texas. In 1948 he received a $50 money order from Bill Wesley who wanted Raymundo to move up to West Texas to farm for him. He and his family spent the first winter night in their truck under the canopy of a gin in Aiken. The transition from the Rio Grande Valley to West Texas during the cold of winter was a shocking experience, but they endured. Raymundo farmed for B.E. Harris after Bill Wesley couldn't convince him to move to Colorado. After Mr. Harris, he farmed for Emmett Thornton and Hoppers farm and finally ended up farming with Preston Walker and Walker Brothers. By 1982, six children later, he stopped farming and went to work in the custodial department at Plainview High School, retiring from there in May 2000. He and Juanita were married until her passing in May, 2003. They were members of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. As for his six children, he had a plan to name them for the letters of TEJAS: Teresa, Elvira, Joaquina, Aurelia, Sebastian. The sixth was "O" for OHIO: Oralia then Hortencia. His wife decided otherwise! He and Juanita had a strong regard for education. All six of their children graduated from high school with the eldest and the youngest graduating from college. Raymundo learned to play instruments by ear, but his favorite was the accordion. He loved entertaining by playing songs he had learned to anyone who would listen. He would ask strangers (who didn't remain so for long) their birth date. They would tell him and give him their phone numbers. On their birthday, he would call them and play "Las Ma?anitas," "La Raspa," "Put Your Little Foot" and finally, "The Happy Birthday Song" for them on the phone. He carefully kept a calendar of birthdays and phone numbers of people he only met once but continued to play for them each year. He would spend hours a day recycling 2- or 3-liter plastic bottles into "bird cages" that would spin in the wind. He would place the "bird" in the center of the bottle, held up by a clothes hanger. He wanted to sell them but usually ended up giving them away, although a few people would pay him for his work. Raymundo often shared stories of his childhood, surviving the depression era and making the most of what he had. He loved farming, irrigating, plowing and harvesting. He loved his family and friends and most of all, his God. He was a good man, a great father and he will be greatly missed. Raymundo was preceded in death by his parents; his beloved wife, Juanita; one son, Raymundito Jimenez Jr. and two daughters, Hortencia Jimenez and Oralia Jimenez. Survivors include one son, Sebastian Jimenez of Plainview; four daughters, Teresa Jimenez of Plainview, Elvira Jimenez, Jackie Womack, Aurelia Rogers all of Lubbock; nine grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson. Online condolences may be made at www.lemonsfuneral.com.