WYCHE HILLMAN RAY
Died Jan. 10, 2016
Wyche Hillman Ray, 94, passed away Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, at the North Carolina State Veteran's Home in Kinston.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, at St. Paul United Methodist Church, with the Rev. James H. Harry and the Rev. Phyllis Vail officiating.
The family will receive friends following the service in the church parlor and other times at the home of Jerald and Carole Ray.
Private family interment will be in Willow Dale Cemetery.
A native of Wake County, he was the son of the late Otho Hillman Ray and Cora Pate Ray.
Prior to moving to Goldsboro in 1933, he lived in Smithfield, N.C., Orangeburg, S.C., and Durham, N.C., where he attended public schools.
Mr. Ray graduated from Wake Forest College in 1943 after attending two years at Brevard College. He later attended Northwestern University, where he was commissioned in the United States Navy as a lieutenant junior grade.
He served in World War II during the invasion of Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.
Mr. Ray was employed for more than 28 years with the North Carolina Employment Security Commission as a veteran's representative in the Wilmington and Goldsboro local offices.
Mr. Ray was an active member of St. Paul United Methodist Church, having joined when he was 12 years old. He served as Sunday school teacher, usher board chairman, Adult Sunday school as a superintendent, member of the administrative board, finance committee and board of trustees.
He served as a neighborhood Boy Scout Commissioner and on the Eagle Scout board of review for many years.
Mr. Ray was a past member of the Goldsboro Rotary Club, commander of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Master Gardeners Program and the Goldsboro Kiwanis Golden K Club.
Mr. Ray is survived by his sons and daughters-in-law, Stephen K. and Rebecca Ray of Calabash, Jerald D. and Carole McClenny Ray of Goldsboro and W. Hillman and Beth Ray of Goldsboro; stepdaughters, Deborah Ann Tolman of Texas, Dianne Covington and husband, Stephen, and Darlene Tolman of Asheville; five grandchildren; one stepgranddaughter; and four great-grandchildren.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by the mother of his sons, Marianna K. Williams, and his second wife, Lura Tolman Ray; brother, William D. Ray; and sister, Nancy Pate Ray, who died at childbirth.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Paul United Methodist Church, 204 E. Chestnut St., Goldsboro, N.C., 27530.
Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Goldsboro Kiwanis Golden K Club and J. Paul Edwards Sunday school class.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on January 12, 2016 1:48 PM