Raymond Lavor Hodson

Raymond LaVor Hodson, 80, of North Las Vegas, passed away May 12, 2016. He was born Nov. 20, 1935, in Salt Lake City, to Bruce and Marguerite Hodson. Ray moved with his family to Las Vegas in 1952 and lived in Clark County for 62 years. He graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1954 and then attended Brigham Young University for one year. Raymond married Joann Larkin June 13, 1956, in the St. George Temple. Ray worked as a surveyor for the state of Nevada until he became an apprentice plumber with the Local 525 Plumbers and Pipefitters Union. In 1962, he won the National Plumbing Apprentice Competition held at the World's Fair in New York City. He was the only apprentice from the state of Nevada to ever win the award. In 1977, he and his father-in-law, Ivan Larkin, formed Desert Plumbing and Heating. During his career, his company did the plumbing construction on the Las Vegas Temple and several hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. He was also a founding member of the Las Vegas Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. He was a life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Raymond served in a variety of positions in the church including bishop, stake presidency counselor, patriarch and temple sealer.He served over a decade with his wife, Joann, in the Las Vegas Temple. Together, they served a church mission in Hawaii in 1994. Raymond was preceded in death by his wife, Joann. He is survived by his sister, Nancy Hodson; and his children, Alex (J.J.), Derrick (Jan), RaeAnn (Gregory) Peterson, Ruthellen (DaRell) Cook and Becky (Brian) Olsen. His posterity includes 23 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 20, at Bunkers Mortuary, 925 Las Vegas Blvd. N. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 21, at the Civic Center and Tonopah LDS Chapel with visitation beginning at noon. Burial following at Eden Vale Cemetery, 1216 Las Vegas Blvd. N.

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