Ray Sizemore, local restaurateur, dead at 72

The man who fed Dothan breakfast for almost 40 years passed away Tuesday morning after a lengthy fight with cancer.

Ray Sizemore, who owned and operated Ray’s Restaurant on South Oates Street for 39 years, will be laid to rest Thursday. Visitation will be Wednesday from 5 until 8 p.m. at Ward Wilson Funeral Home, with funeral services Thursday at 2 p.m. at Grandview Baptist Church.

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Ray’s Restaurant opened during breakfast hours, and soon became the hangout for local residents interested in coffee and conversation. The restaurant’s “Table of Knowledge” moniker has integrated itself into the Dothan vocabulary. He was also known for his catering business, which provided food for many events.

Along with serving up the old breakfast standards as well as his own tasty concoctions, Sizemore, 72, was known throughout the Wiregrass for his contribution to recreational sports in the area. Plaques and certificates of appreciation in connection with youth sports hang all over the restaurant walls. His food has been a staple of special citizens day at the National Peanut Festival for many years.

He and his late wife, Kitty, started a softball tournament many years ago and donated the proceeds to the Wiregrass Rehabilitation Center. On Oct. 25, the City of Dothan officially named the entrance walkway at the Westgate Softball Complex the “Ray Sizemore Walk of Fame.”