THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9510010012
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: BUXTON LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Raymond Benson Couch, 83, died Sept. 30, 1995, after a long illness.
Lt. Col. Couch, a native of Durham, N.C., was a decorated combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He lived in Buxton from 1964 until his death and was the owner of the Red Drum Shopping Center.
His boyhood dream centered on music, and at age 24, he left the engineering program at Duke University to tour professionally as bassist with the Johnnie Long Orchestra, his considerable music friends included Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Les Brown and others among the popular New York ``Big Band'' swing orchestras of the '30s and '40s.
In 1940, Couch began a 24-year exemplary career in the U.S. Army as a demolitions and airstrip construction expert and instructor. He was a decorated combat veteran, being awarded the Bronze Star medal for meritorious achievement in the South Pacific in 1945. At Luzon in the Philippines, he displayed ``exceptional courage, initiative and resourcefulness'' during operations with the task force ``Connoly.'' He commanded a landing craft that made a hazardous passage through a channel blocked with mines and underwater obstacles to provide covering fire during the occupation of Aparri. Afterward, he led an evacuation by water of an infantry patrol under attack by a superior enemy force deep within Japanese-held territory.
Lt. Col. Couch retired to Buxton in 1964 to raise his family, fish and operate the Red Drum, which he built into a Hatteras Island landmark. He was active in its daily operation until his death. He made a lasting contribution to his community through his promotion of tourism, where he used his publicity skills, under the direction of his friend Aycock Brown, to assemble a considerable photo collection of the Hatteras Island sports fishing industry spanning 25 years.
He was the husband of the late Juanita Stewart Couch of Alta Vista, Kan., and the son of William Carlton and Ailey Jones Couch of Durham.
He is survived by three sons, R. Stewart Couch, John B. Couch and Daniel C. Couch, all of Buxton; two sisters, Mrs. Doris Terrell and Mrs. Lona Weisner of Durham; and two grandchildren, Miss Jenny Couch of Cary, N.C., and Miss Nikki Couch of Kill Devil Hills, N.C. He was a Baptist.
The funeral will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in Buxton United Methodist Church by the Rev. Jim Huskins. A visitation will be held at Buxton United Methodist Church from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, and at other times, the family will be gathered at the home of R. Stewart Couch on N. Tower Circle Drive, Buxton. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to your local American Heart Association. Twiford's Island Chapel, Hatteras, N.C., is in charge.
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY by CNB