John Raymond "Ray" Delahunty

John Raymond "Ray" Delahunty was a modest man, quiet and observant in his ways. He was trustworthy and traditional in his approach to his life and in his relationships. He was tough-minded with the kind of “stick to it” attitude that earned the respect of all who knew him. He was also a man who was meticulous, carefully disciplined, and orderly in virtually everything he undertook. Realistic about life, he was always at the ready, prepared to take on responsibility.

Ray was born on April 30, 1932 at home in Bell Island, Newfoundland. His parents were Robert and Catherine. Ray was raised in Bell Island, Newfoundland. He was brought up to be self-confident and dependable. These were traits that would serve him well throughout his life.

Growing up in the Delahunty household was a bit different than most homes. There were good times to be had, but just as often there was a fair share of challenges as well. However, Ray was able to work through the usual family problems when they appeared, and he was the one person in the family who seemed able to keep the stress at bay. Ray was raised with six siblings. He had two younger brothers Jim and Gordon, four younger sisters, Ester, Mildred, Mary and Donna. Ray was constantly involved in activities with his brothers and sisters. Ray and his siblings may have had the typical rivalries while growing up but Ray was always consistently loyal to his family.

As a young child, Ray was never someone who needed to be the center of attention. He wasn’t pushy and never forced his way into games or other activities. Ray developed a variety of interests, though, and the things he enjoyed doing, he did well. He was always curious about the world around him and was often eager to explore it. Ray's achievements included working to help his family; his father passed away when Ray was 14, so Ray became the bread winner for his family. When Ray had time, he enjoyed spending time with his friends and swimming.

Always considered to be a solid friend, Ray was fortunate to have numerous acquaintances and several very close friends during his life. Since he disliked making generalizations about people and preferred to draw his own conclusions based on direct observation, Ray was able to see beneath the surface of relationships and became a true friend to those who knew him. He was committed to his friends and valued the trust he placed in them. It was not uncommon for Ray to go beyond the call of duty for others, and friends frequently sought him out for advice because he had a knack for coming up with practical solutions to any type of dilemma. While growing up, some of his best friends were Joe Murphy and Kevin Quigley. Later in life, he became friends with Harold Drover, Bill and Tom Craig, George King, Jim Cummings, Joe Normore and Bill Blackmore.

On May 7, 1952 Ray exchanged wedding vows with Alfreda Marie Hunt at St. Michael's in Bell Island, Newfoundland. Compassionate and devoted to Alfreda (Freda), Ray held endearing, traditional values about marriage and family life. He took the responsibility of marriage to heart, giving it his total commitment. He was a source of strength to Alfreda (Freda) and using his gifts at nurturing one-on-one relationships, he worked hard to make his new family happy.

Ray brought the same traditional values in his marriage to bear on how he raised his children. He was a good parent to them, always firm yet fair in his dealings. He would always listen carefully and think things through before he acted, even when it was an adverse situation. Ray was blessed with seven children, four boys, Robert, Ray, Eugene and Michael and three girls Susan, Debbie and Gail. They were also blessed with sixteen grandchildren, Steven, Christopher, Alex, Jacob, Crystal, Lisa, Brittany, Dougal, Gary (d. 1999), Blake, Jessica, Chelsea, Caitlyn, Kristen, Ethan and Jack and thirteen great-grandchildren, Kaleb, Rosie, Elise, Lennon, Valerie, Lawrence, Amy, Emily, Ava, Savannah, Ashton, Aiden and Avery.

At the age of 19, he worked in the Bell Island Ore Mines as a 'Face Cleaner'. He cleaned the rocks off to make it safe for other miners after a blast. He was a hard worker who expected the same in return from his co-workers. He was skilled at working effectively in small groups and in one-on-one situations as well as handling solo assignments efficiently. Ray enjoyed dealing with concrete ideas and could penetrate any amount of fuzzy information to reach the essential facts. Always able to attend to the task at hand, Ray was excellent at meeting deadlines. He was an efficient worker, one who paid careful attention to detail, allowing sufficient time to complete one task before moving on to the next. After moving to Ontario, his primary occupation was working in a factory. He was employed for 30 years at American Standard. Ray worked hard to be a team player, doing what was necessary in order to get the job done.

Ray liked to experience things first-hand as well as learn about them. This trait carried over into his hobbies, where he was very methodical in how he organized his activities and categorized things. Since he enjoyed his private time, Ray always tried to allocate a specific time for working on his hobbies. His favorite pursuits were listening to music, watching favourite TV shows, especially Hockey Night in Canada, gardening, circle a word puzzles, reading and the outdoors where he would moose hunt and go tuna fishing with his brother-in-law Gran and friend Frank O’Brien.

Ray enjoyed traveling and taking vacations. Freda always planned the trips but Ray was very eager to go, with very little persuasion. Favorite vacations included Newfoundland, Myrtle Beach, England, Scotland, Ireland and British Columbia.

Ray was a lover of animals and cherished his pets. One of Ray’s favorites was Bunny, a poodle. They were best friends for 16 years. His family was rounded out by his cat Snowball and Rusty a mixed breed dog.

When Ray’s retirement finally arrived in 1992, he was well prepared. He always trusted and placed value in what was logical and in the things he knew, so he was very confident in planning his retirement. He had begun the process early and had his retirement all laid out well in advance. In retirement, he found new pleasure in gardening, walks, vacations and spending time with his grandchildren. Even in retirement, Ray continued to stay in touch with his old friends while making plenty of new acquaintances. He was active in his new community and felt fulfilled.

John Raymond "Ray" Delahunty passed away on April 7, 2017 at the CMH in Cambridge, Ontario, from a heart attack after not eating from stomach cancer. He is survived by his wife, children, his grandchildren, and his great-grandchildren and they are his true legacy. Services were held at the T. Little Funeral Home & Cremation Centre. Ray was laid to rest in Parklawn Cemetery in Cambridge, Ontario.

Commitment is a key word that can be used to describe the life of John Raymond "Ray" Delahunty. He was committed to living the life of a good man who was both practical and trustworthy. He was committed to the traditional values that he upheld his entire life. He committed himself to being a hard worker who expected the same effort in return from those around him. Most of all, he was committed to those he knew and loved.

Don't cry for me in sadness

Don't weep for me in sorrow

For I'll be there beside you

As sure as tomorrow comes.

My body is now gone

But my spirit lives on

Just as in life I'll watch over you

Know in your heart I'll always be true.

My blood lives on in my children as I watch them in pride

Know that I will live on within them always by their side

Just try to remember the good times when we had fun my dear

Reach out if you need me as I will always be near.

Just talk to me as if I'm right there

I promise I'll hear you I am everywhere

For I live on within your mind and in your heart

Because of that we will never be apart.

As long as you are keeping thoughts of me in your mind

Don't be sad we will always be entwined

You are still there but remember so am I, my spirit hasn't gone

With all the love we shared, I really will live on.

Ray had a very hard start in life and suffered a lot of loss at a very young age. He was the oldest of 8 children and he lost 2 of them, a brother and sister at the early ages of 9 months and 5 years. He started working at 14 doing odd jobs because his father was ill at the time in order to help feed his family. His father passed away a year later when Ray was only 15 and so he then became the man if the house and worked so he could continue to support the family. His first job was packing shelves at Paddy Walsh's Supermarket. When he turned 16 he got his driver’s license and took the job of the Bell Island Bus Driver. Doing this job he met and got to know most of the inhabitants of Bell Island. This was also where he first met Freda. They were both 17 and from that point on they were inseparable. They were marries a few years later and started their own family. There were a few problems in the beginning because Ray was Catholic and Freda was Anglican. At that time that was considered a big no-no, but they persevered and things did eventually work out. Having a new family he got a job as a miner, a very dirty, hard and dangerous job at the Bell Island mine. During his early married life he still maintained some support to his mother and siblings. When the Mine was closing he lost his job and did any work he could, from deliveries for Hunt's Market, Pepsi deliveries around the Island and also around the Bay for his brother-in-law Gran. But he needed more money in order to provide for his own growing family, so he left Bell Island in 1963 to go to Ontario to find work. About 6 weeks later, once established he then sent for his family. Because of his hard early life he was a very strict/stern parent and if you weren't behaving properly you would be sure to get a knuckle to the head! The oldest and the youngest must have behaved very badly as they both don't have hair left! Isn't that right Robert and Michael? But he certainly had a soft spot for the youngest daughter Gail who was sick as a young child and so she got everything much to the dismay of her older brothers and sisters. When Ray worked overtime on Saturday's, Freda always made him a T-bone steak and home fries and no one except Gail got a few fries. The rest of the kids sat back with only the tantalizing aroma! However he was a family man and did take all the kids for Sunday drives where they would maybe get an ice-cream or a pop. Occasionally they went to Port Dover or Valen's and Freda would cook up a Jig's dinner for the family. Ray as he got older didn't always want to go places, but he could be forced and then usually ended up enjoying himself. He like westerns (books and movies), his circle a word puzzle books, his candy, any kind of birds, gardening and just being able to be outside and enjoy the sunshine, all of which he enjoyed right up until he went into the hospital. Ray also was an avid Hank Snow fan. He would sit most Sunday's listening to his old scratched up records and I think most of the family can sing all the words to all of his songs as they heard it so often. He used to have knick names for his grandchildren and great grandchildren and for some reason they were always bug names such as grasshopper, sand flea or spider. He also liked to scare the kids with plastic spiders as I'm sure they all remember. He also was quite the beer drinker in his younger days and because Freda didn't really like him drinking he had a few choice hiding spots that the kids only knew about. He also had many sayings some of which we couldn't repeat as many here will attest he used the "F" word a lot! Some of the tamer ones were " could you get your sick father a beer", "you want something to cry about", shut the door were you born in a barn or are you heating all of Newfoundland", to the boys if they cried or whined "what are you, a girl?", and if you opened the fridge door too longs "is there a mirror in there". He was also a die-hard Montreal Canadiens fan and had running bets with a couple of his grandkids Jessica and Brittany. When Toronto played the Canadiens and won he would give them $10 dollars each. This tradition was actually started by his grandson Gary. He didn't have to pay out on those bets very often which of course he would brag about pretty vocally! He liked to argue and also even instigate arguments, sit back enjoy and smile or wink at someone and let the bickering begin. He had a heart of gold and certainly a soft spot for his grandchildren and great grandchildren. When he smiled his eyes would twinkle and you knew that you were loved.

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DELAHUNTY, John Raymond “Ray”

Aril 30th, 1932-April 7th, 2017

Passed away peacefully surrounded by his family at Cambridge Memorial Hospital at the age of 84. Loving husband of 65 years to Alfreda (nee Hunt). Cherished father to Susan Cromwell, Robert (Brenda), Raymond, Debbie (Dougal) Skanes, Gail (Jay) Jessome, Eugene (Dawn), and Michael (Linda). Forever remembered Poppy to Steven, Christopher, Alex, Jacob, Crystal, Lisa, Brittany, Dougal Jr., Gary (1999), Blake, Jessica, Chelsea, Caitlyn, Kristen, Ethan and Jack. Loved Granddad to Kaleb, Rosie, Elise, Lennon, Valerie, Lawrence, Amy, Ava, Emily, Savannah, Ashton, Aiden and Avery. Ray will also be missed by his siblings Gord (Gloria), Mildred Meadus, Donna (Kevin) Galway, sister in law Patricia, brother in law Ross Delane, Gloria (Dave) Bennett, Helda (Pete) Locke, Wilson (Helen) Hunt, Billy (Evelyn) Hunt and many extended family and friends. Predeceased by brother Jim, sisters Ester Burke, Mary Delane, and many brothers and sisters in law. Ray came from Bell Island, Newfoundland in 1963 to raise his family of 7 children. He was a hardworking man who will forever be deeply missed. Family will receive friends at T. LITTLE FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION CENTRE, 223 Main Street, Cambridge on Wednesday April 12th for visitation from 2-4pm and 7-9pm. Funeral Service will be held on Thursday April 13th at 11am in the Funeral Home Chapel. Burial to follow at Parklawn Cemetery. A special thank you to all the staff on the 4th floor and ICU at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, for the love and care shown to Ray. As an expression of sympathy, donations may be made to Canadian Cancer Society or the Cambridge Memorial Hospital