BY JOHN REED LEADER EDITOR
KNOX — Long-time Knox Clerk Ray Walton died on Friday, March 16.
Walton was well-known  locally for his fairness and detailed knowledge of the inner workings of government.
He also was known for his sense of humor, and his stories. Sit down across from him, and before long he would be telling a story about working with diamonds at a Florida jewelry maker, or about an incident at Ray’s Bar, now O’s Tap. which he owned for a number of years.
He called Ramona Redlin, the mayor’s secretary, Lightning and she called him Thunder. Once, she said, she went outside to withdraw cable TV payments from a dropbox and returned to find City Hall locked up. Walton was the culprit.
Walton was clerk-treasurer of Knox for 16 years. He was Democrat Center Precinct chairman, treasurer of the Knox Kiwanis, and was a past member of the Knox Park Board.

Former Knox Mayor Nancy Dembowski, now a state representative, stayed home from the legislature to attend Walton’s visitation.
“Ray Walton and I worked together for the entire 11 years I was mayor of Knox.  A great working relationship between the mayor and clerk-treasurer are absolutely vital to improving the quality of life in a city. For all of those years, Ray was always open to any plans or projects I wanted to pursue for Knox and his support was crucial for anything to move ahead.
“He was a master at preparing budgets and always kept us operating in the black. Ray knew his job from top to bottom, could work well with people and was a man of extreme integrity. He dedicated many years of his life to this community and I was always proud of the way he represented our city. I will miss his friendship and remember that his hard work and dedication always made me look good,” Dembowski said.
Like Dembowski, Mayor Dennis Estok enjoyed working with Walton.
“He was good to work with. When I needed to know something, I could go to him and he had the answer. He’s going to be hard to replace. It is going to take a long time to get used to working with someone else.
“We had a very good, and excellent, working relationship. You couldn’t find a better clerk-treasurer. He had the respect of other clerk-treasurers. Everyone seemed to know him. We were all a little startled by his passing,” Estok said.
Walton was born Nov. 23, 1938 in Knox to Clayton and Evelyn Marty (Singleton) Walton. He was a graduate of Knox High School. He married Gay Wright on Aug. 15, 1959, in LaCrosse. She survives.