1930
Raymond
2022
Raymond Elder
March 10, 1930 — November 23, 2022
Windsor
Raymond (Ray) P. Elder, 92, died on November 23, 2022, in Loveland, CO. He was born
in Fort Benton, Montana on March 10, 1930. He spent his school years growing up in
Dayton, Washington. Ray met Donna Dudley, in high school and they were married on
March 25, 1951. They remained married until Donna passed in December of 2021.
His first two years of college education was at Eastern Washington College of Education
in Cheney, WA and the last two years at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.
Ray self financed all of his college education by working in the pea and wheat harvests
around Dayton, WA in the summers and by frequently having two jobs at one time while
he was going to college. In the spring of 1952, he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the
national scholarship society. In August 1952, he graduated from the University of
Washington.
Upon graduation Ray attended U.S. Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode
Island and was granted a commission in the U.S. Navy in December 1952. He served as a
line officer aboard a U.S. Navy ship in the Pacific Fleet until December 1955. In the
winter and spring of 1954 Ray participated in the thermal nuclear tests (hydrogen
bomb) at Bikini Atoll. Following these tests his ship was sent on a twelve month tour of
the Far East returning home in the summer of 1955. He was discharged from the Navy in
December 1955.
In 1956 he went back to the University of Washington for a year of graduate work. In
1957, he became a Certified Public Accountant and worked in that field in the Seattle
area until 1961. In 1961 he joined as Asst. Corporate Controller Southwest Forest
Industries, Inc. a small forest products manufacturing company headquartered in
Phoenix, Arizona. He worked there until he retired as Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer in 1987. In the 26 years while he was involved in the management of
Southwest Forest Industries, it expanded to having operations in 22 states with about
11,000 employees, and the company was ranked about mid-way in the Fortune 500
listing of largest manufacturing companies in the Unites States. This company was
acquired by another company in the spring of 1987 and Ray was fortunate enough to
be able to retire at that time. Ray said, "Retirement is the best job I ever had."
After retirement, Ray spent all his time enjoying his family and friends, doing the things
he liked to do and traveling with his wife Donna. Ray and Donna traveled the world,
about half the time by themselves and half the time with small tour groups. They visited
nearly all the States and Provinces of the U.S. and Canada and 31 countries around the
world.
Ray very much enjoyed life with his wife, Donna, these past 70 years and knew that
overall they had a very good life. Ray is survived by their three children, Gerald in Rio
Rancho NM, Jeffrey in LaQuinta CA and Heidi Blair in Windsor CO. He also had ten
grandchildren and fourteen great grandchildren. Ray is also survived by one older
brother and several nieces and nephews.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Raymond Elder, please visit our flower store.
Guestbook
Visits: 174
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors