Raymond Leroy Mittel was born in San Angelo, Texas, Nov. 16, 1935, to Henry and Mamie Belle Smith Mittel. After graduating from Eldorado High School in 1954, he attended Texas A&M University. Due to his father’s death, he left college to go home to help run the ranch.
He married Ruth Drennan and during their marriage they had three children.
He later went back to college and graduated from Sul Ross University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology with minors in Agriculture and Social Studies. Raymond always felt that “once an Aggie, always an Aggie!”
After graduation from Sul Ross, Raymond taught high school at Eldorado for several years. He went to work for the State of Texas Parks and Wildlife and later the Texas Water Quality Board. He retired from the State of Texas in 1985 and moved back to Eldorado where he purchased Ratliff Insurance which later became Mittel Insurance Agency. He retired from there in 1997.
Raymond was an outdoorsman. He loved to hunt and work on his ranch and had a soft spot for all animals. He loved music and singing in the church choir, He and his wife, Carolyn, especially enjoyed singing duets at church.
Raymond was an avid historian especially concerning World War II. He had an interest in genealogy which later led him and Carolyn to travel to Germany to trace his ancestry. That trip led to discovering a distant cousin and eventually eight more return trips.
He is survived by his wife, Carolyn; children Theresa (Tem) Hickman, Keith and Lisa Mittel, of San Angelo and Ben Mittel of Eldorado; two brothers, Henry and Dot Mittel of Arlington and Dan and Donna Mittel of Fredericksburg; grandchildren Landi Johnson, Cassie Vidos, Eric Neuhoff, Kristin Fida and Bentley Hickman; and eight great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Howard, John D. and Stephen.
Memorials can be made to the music department or the youth department at First Baptist Church of Eldorado.
Service was Friday, September 15, 2017, at First Baptist Church of Eldorado.
