Dates
Raymond Alfred (Shorty) Granzin was born September 10, 1921, and departed this life on April 1, 2017, at his home in Miles, at the age of 95.
He was born the seventh of eight children to Otto and Louise Mueller Granzin in Walburg, Texas. They moved to Miles in 1923, where the family lived on a farm north of town. He graduated Miles High School in 1938, and worked on the family dairy farm until he entered the U.S. Army Air Force. He married Imelda Hart on November 27, 1943.
During the war years, he was stationed at Horham, England with the Eighth Air Force. He was a radio operator in a B-17 Flying Fortress and flew 35 missions over Germany and occupied Europe between 1944 and the war’s end in 1945.
Upon returning to Miles he began working in the grocery business, and later bought the Ideal Food Store, where he made and sold his family sausage recipe. In the 1970’s and 1980’s he raised and trained English Pointers for bird hunting.
He served his community in various ways. He was a board member and president of the Miles School Board in the 1950s and 1960s. He served as a trustee for the Miles Methodist Church, on the Region 15 Education Center governing board, as a director of the Independent Grocers, Inc., and as Miles City Councilman.
He was predeceased by his wife, Imelda, his parents, and his seven siblings. He is survived by his son, Kendal Granzin, and wife, Carol, two grandsons, Hunter and Nathan Granzin and their wives Jennifer and Brandi, a great grandson due in July, Oliver Raymond, several nieces and nephews, and two sisters in law, Gladys Hart and Joanna Hart.
A Visitation will be held at 10:00 am on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at the First Methodist Church of Miles. The Celebration of Life Service will begin at 11:00 am at the church with burial to follow at Miles Cemetery. Pallbearers are Bobby Kasberg, Charles Ehrig, Roman Meza, Gary Granzin, Stacy Granzin, Don Gordon, Rodney Gordon, and Paul Gordon, Jr. Arrangements are by Harper Funeral Home.
There were many people who helped Shorty though the last years. Among them were his caregivers, Maria Gonzales, Elaine Baca, and Anahi Villarruel; his Pastor Gary Karshner; his great friends, Bobby Kasberg and Roman Meza, and his domino buddies, especially Fred Book, who drove him to and from the domino game after he could no longer drive. There are many others including all the good people of the senior citizen’s lunch group for whom the family is eternally grateful and his extended family at the Ideal Food Store including Cheryl Isham, Servando Carbajal, and Phil Sonnenberg.
Special thanks to nurses and staff with Ballinger Home Health & Hospice.