Obit of Rutherford, Ted - Cimarron County, Oklahoma

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::Friona Cemetery--Friona TX

Amarillo Globe-News, Aug. 12, 2004

Ted Rutherford

Ted Rutherford, 87, of Canyon died Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004.

Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Friday in Friona Cemetery in 
Friona with the Rev. Steve Patterson, of Friona United Methodist 
Church, officiating. Arrangements are by Blackwell Funeral Home of 
Friona.

Mr. Rutherford was born Oct. 16, 1916, on the Rutherford ranch in 
Young County near Graham to Claude Eugene Rutherford and Allie Reid 
Rutherford.

Ted went to school in Mertens, Quinlan, Okla., and Boise City, Okla., 
and later attended Draughon's Business College in 1937, where he met 
"the love of his life," Martha Slagle from Friona. They were married 
on Dec. 31, 1939, in Union Congregational Church in Friona by the 
Rev. Herschel Thurston.

He worked for International Harvester in Amarillo and Cox Farm 
Equipment in Clayton, N.M. before moving to Richmond, Calif., to work 
as a leaderman in the Henry J. Kaiser shipyard from 1942 to 1945. He 
was the West Coast champion port hole burner, helping build 567 
Liberty ships during World War II. He also had the privilege to be 
the triggerman to launch one of the Liberty ships that he helped 
build.

After the war, he returned to Clayton, where he co-owned Tri-State 
Grain and Seed Elevator, followed by a partnership in Tri-State 
Motors. He also operated the Hilltop Dairy, which supplied milk to 
the Hilltop Pasteurization Plant owned by his father and brother-in-
law. Together, they supplied Clayton with its first pasteurized milk.

In 1959, he returned to Amarillo as in independent truck driver for 
Elkins Fruit Market. He later drove for Roberts Lumber Company and 
ICX. In 1972, he began driving for Yellow Freight System. He 
transferred to Tucumcari, N.M., in 1977 and retired from Yellow 
Freight in 1985 as a member of the Teamsters Union.

He moved to Friona in 1992 and to Canyon in 2001. He was Methodist.

Survivors include his wife; three sons, Wayne Rutherford of Aurora, 
Colo., Warren Rutherford and wife, Sue of Puyallup, Wash., and Keith 
Rutherford and wife, Kimberley, of Amarillo; eight grandchildren; six 
great-grandchildren; a sister, Beverly Williams of Arlington; and 
nieces and nephews.

The family suggests memorials be to the Alzheimer's Association, 
Friona United Methodist Church or First United Methodist Church of 
Canyon.
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