Ex-radio, TV personality Ray Barnes dies at 87
Ray Barnes, a former Los Angeles radio and television personality who moved to Las Vegas 20 years ago and became a rock art enthusiast and craftsman, died Thursday of heart failure, his wife said. He was 87.
Even late in his life, it was not unusual for Barnes to hike a dozen miles or more across the Mojave Desert to admire Southern Nevada's heritage from fossils of the ice ages to artistic stone etchings left by American Indians centuries ago.
He was particularly fond of preserving and documenting petroglyphs and devoted much of his retirement to crafting rock art replicas and miniatures that were sold in local museums.
"He was a wonderful man. He loved his family and loved the desert and the animals that inhabited the area," his wife, Suzanne LeVeque Barnes, said Monday.
Edgar Ray Barnes was born Jan. 27, 1923, in Hubbard, Texas. He moved to Los Angeles during World War II to perform a civilian service role working for Douglas Aircraft Co.
In the late-1940s, he joined the Edgar Bergen theater group and Cosmo Morgan Radio School near Hollywood Boulevard. That's where he met his future wife, Suzanne LeVeque, daughter of Eddie LeVeque, one of the original members of the Keystone Kops slapstick troupe, which was featured in silent films.
"We were at the same studio together, and it evolved into a lifelong relationship," she said.
They were married in a small wedding by a justice of the peace in Las Vegas in 1951. "I didn't want a fluffy wedding," she said.
During the 1950s, Ray and Suzanne performed together on a live radio show that Suzanne shared with her father, known on the bilingual show as Don Eduardo.
"We did Mexican hillbilly music," she said.
Later, the couple joined the Jay DuWayne traveling television theater, featuring Ray as an actor, for live TV shows along the California coast.
During the 1960s, Ray worked for Pabst Brewing Co. in Los Angeles as a stock department manager.
He later switched careers, taking a job with a computer manufacturer, Terminal Data.
Ray would dress up as a Keystone Kop for the annual Christmas parade on Hollywood Boulevard, a family tradition he carried out until his father-in-law died in 1989.
The couple moved to Las Vegas in 1990 to retire. That's when Ray became fascinated with petroglyphs and became concerned about preserving them.
A former member of Archaeo-Nevada Society, he also was active in digs for mammoth fossils at Gilcrease Ranch.
He is survived by his wife, Suzanne LeVeque Barnes, of Las Vegas; sons Brad Barnes and Brian Barnes, both of Los Angeles; two grandsons; and a great grandson.
No memorial service is planned.
The family prefers donations to the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society.
Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.
