Obituary of Latona Raines

CHESHIRE- Latona “Toni” Raines, 94, of Cheshire passed away March 7, 2016 at Mid-State Medical Center in Meriden. She was the loving wife of Joseph Raines to whom she was married for 70 years. Toni was born Latona Lee Coats October 14, 1921 in Moran, TX, daughter of the late Harris Allen and Isabell (Yeager) Coats. She graduated from Moran High School in 1939 and moved to Los Angeles, California where she attended L A City College. After college and a first job in the cosmetics industry she joined the Civil Aeronautics administration to help in the war effort, spending the war years in airport management and air traffic control in Utah and Nevada. At the war's end she married the recently discharged Army Air Corp bomber pilot Joseph W. Raines. Ironically they had not met through her work. He was her sister's next door neighbor. Moving to Cheshire in 1964 Toni kept the books for her family's business, Connecticut Microwave Corporation, for many years prior to her retirement. In her spare time she enjoyed reading, gardening, and entertaining family and friends. To the end she was in constant motion, animated by an unbreakable cheerfulness and an unending desire to do as much as she could for as many as she could, the fruit of her unshakable faith. Besides her husband she is survived by four sons; Randall J. and his wife Marilyn Raines of Cheshire, David Raines of Lunenburg, MA, Gregory and his wife Laurie Raines of Arlington, VA, and Jeffery and his wife Elizabeth Raines of Oakland, CA; six grandchildren, Robert and his wife, Amy, David and his wife, Yvonne, Joseph, Thomas, Cynthia, and John; and four great grandchildren, Paige, Travis, Emily, and Erin; her sister, Jean Fitzgerald of Cisco, TX and her brother H.L. Coats of Fort Worth, TX. She was predeceased by her brothers, James and Audrey Coats and her sisters, Winona Watson and Odessa Collins. A Funeral Service for Mrs. Raines will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 10AM at The Alderson-Ford Funeral Home of Cheshire, 615 South Main St, 06410. Burial will follow in Cheshire Hillside Cemetery, Wallingford Road. Calling hours will be held from 9AM until her service starts at 10AM. At the request of her family, memorial contributions may be made to the White Oak Baptist Church, Cheshire Campus, 120 Main Street, Cheshire, CT 06410.