AUSTIN -- A private graveside service for Raymond J. Stromer was in Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.
Mr. Stromer, 84, of Park Rapids, Minn., formerly of Austin, died April 19, 2002, at St. Joseph's Hospital in Park Rapids.
He was born March 16, 1918, in Austin. A 1936 graduate of Austin High School, he lettered in football, track and basketball and was a member of Austin's first state championship basketball team in 1935. Mr. Stromer was a former livestock buyer for Hormel Foods Corp. and was stationed in Austin, Preston, Owatonna and Okabena, Minn. In 1939, he married Iva Scholl, who preceded him in death. He married Mary Jurgenson in 1946. In 1950, they opened The Old Mill supper club in Austin, which they operated for 24 years. During this time, he started Cedar River Forest Products, Nursery and Garden Center and operated it until l993. His second wife also preceded him in death. In 1984, he married Kathy Harsha and they lived in a lake home in rural Hubbard County, Minn.
Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Lyn Guin of Sacramento, Calif., Terry Bure of Bethel Island, Calif., and Jennifer Stromer of Akeley, Minn.; seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and a brother, Gene (Alice) Brennan of Austin. Two sisters and a brother preceded him in death.
Jones-Pearson Funeral Home in Park Rapids was in charge of arrangements.
