RAYMOND EARL HART, 95, passed away Jan. 6,
2025 in Brownwood, TX.
He was born in Ranger, TX in Sept. 22, 1929 to John
Lindsey Hart & Linda Jewell Pilgrim Hart. He lived
in the Alameda Community and attended the Alameda
School & graduated from Ranger High School in 1951.
He married in Eastland County in Jan of 1950 to
Vivian Beatrice Glenn. He had been a resident of
Ranger since 1960.
In his teens he was influenced by the music of Roy
Acuff and Tex Ritter. He liked their music so much
he decided he needed a guitar of his own so he could
play along with their records. Wanting a guitar, he
got a job at a rock crusher, when he had saved enough
money, he bought himself a new Harmony guitar. A thumb
pick came with the guitar so he learned to use it also.
He grew up on a farm and would attend house dances with
his family where the music was provided by friends and
family and he developed an interest in music. He was
later influenced by the music of his Uncle Olive Pilgrim
who insisted that Raymond learn to play behind a fiddle
and spent a lot of time getting him started playing
accompaniment to breakdown style fiddling. Then Bryant
Houston got Raymond really interested in learning it.
Since then, he met a great many fiddlers and accompanists
who have helped him & he appreciated each of them. After
learning about music, he willingly passed it on to others.
He competed in fiddling contests from Nashville TN to
Weiser ID.
Like most musicians he has had several high points
during his musical career. He was playing guitar for
Herman Johnson when he won the Grand Masters Fiddling
Contest in Nashville in 1974, playing guitar on records
for Bill Gilbert, Junior Daugherty, and Roy Thackerson;
and being filmed playing guitar at Sun Valley ID for
the movie "Reel West" are some of the high points. He
also won several trophies playing the fiddle at contests.
He said the "low point" of his music career was when
after a hard day of competing and being tired & hungry
he went to a restaurant and ordered a large chicken
fried steak and was served liver and onions instead.
He played alongside Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe and on
stage at the Grand Ole Opry. In later years he served
as a judge at many fiddling contests.
Raymond also became interested in "hot rods" while
working in the oil fields of west Texas in the 1950's
and carried that interest into the 1960's competing on
both National and American Hot Rod Association tracks
and winning many trophies. He won two A.H.R.A. World
Championships in the class he participated in.
In the 1950's Raymond worked as Warehouse Supervisor
and Transportation Manager for the Mississippi River
Fuel Corporation in the drilling mud business. While
with them he and Vivian lived in Big Lake, Midland,
Andrews, Hobbs, New Mexico and Wyoming. They returned
to Ranger in 1960 where he worked for Anderson Chevrolet
until it closed and then opened Hart Paint and Body
Shop for approximately thirty years. Active in civic
and community affairs, Raymond and Vivian served as
licensed foster parents for the Texas Department of
Human Resources for several years. He served the City
of Ranger as Police and Fire Commissioner in 1979 and
2001-03; Street Commissioner 2007-09; as Mayor four
terms, 1983-85, 1985-87, 2003-05, and 2011-13. In
addition, he was active in providing musical enter-
tainment for Senior citizens, nursing homes, benefit
programs, banquets, and musicals in Ranger and the
surrounding area. To Raymond the most enjoyable things
about music were "participating in making it and the
fellowship with others who like it".