Richard Ray

Long time Renton area resident and Fairwood G&CC charter member Richard “Dick” Ray passed away quietly in his sleep on Friday, September 9, 2011. He was 29 days short of his 94th birthday. Dick spent most of his adult life working in the aerospace industry. He had the opportunity to know Howard Hughes and Jimmy Stewart while working at the Hughes Aircraft Company in the 1930s. At Lockheed he was a mechanic on Amelia Earhart’s Model 10 Electra. And during his 40 years at Boeing he worked on B-17s, B-29s, 707s, 727s, 737s, 747s and 757s. His Boeing career included overseas assignments in Iraq and Ireland, which gave him and his wife of 50 years, Ruthe, the opportunity to travel the world with stops in Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the Far East. During his younger days he enjoyed fishing, hunting, snow skiing, water skiing, travel, house boating, Husky football, camping, and golf. Dick was predeceased by Ruthe. Daughter Pamela Schoenle and her husband Mike of Snoqualmie, daughter Sheryl Frost and her husband Jim of Bellevue, and son Greg Ray and his wife Vicki of Renton survive him. He had four grandchildren and four greatgrandchildren.

527184