Age 82, Arrowhead Ranch Estate, Wichita Falls, Texas - Funeral services will be 2:00 p.m. Friday in the First Baptist Church, Geronimo, with Kelly Russell and Steve Mallow, officiating. Mr. Payne died Monday in Wichita Falls. Burial with Navy honors will be in Sunset Memorial Gardens under the direction of Becker Funeral Home. He was born September 11, 1925 in Atoka County to Bill and Rosa Chateau Payne. He joined the Navy his junior year of high school serving aboard the USS Token during World War II as a radioman. He married Martha I. Baughman on February 19, 1949 in Henrietta, Texas. She preceded him in death on August 22, 1987. He served as the first water commissioner for the town of Geronimo and served in that capacity for several years. He was elected to the Geronimo School Board in 1959 and served until 1966. He was a member of the First Baptist Church, Geronimo, and was ordained a deacon in August of 1971. He was retired from Public Service Company of Oklahoma in 1988 after 30 years of service. He started as a meter repairman, transferred to the "filter wagon" which was operated by the maintenance shop and also served as the union representative until he moved into management. He is survived by a daughter and son in law, Nancy L. and Ron Allen, Wichita Falls, Texas; three grandchildren, Sarah Allen, Jacksboro, Texas, and Sean Allen and Kathryn L. Allen, both of Wichita Falls; two sisters, Shirley Cox and June Allen, all of Bokchito, Oklahoma. His parents, a son, Rodney Lee Payne, and three brothers, Ramon Payne, Kennith Cambron and Homer Joe Adams, preceded him in death.