Raymond Francis Connors

Raymond was born on June 4, 1932 to Francis Howard Connors and Ragna Olive (Nickolson) Connors in Provost, Alberta, Canada. Howard was born in Chicago, Illinois and Ragna was born in Leksvik, Norway. Ragna immigrated with her mother, brothers and sisters from Norway to the Ellis Island, New York in 1915. Howard and Ragna were married on June 12, 1930. Ray was their oldest of four children. After Ray, came James Martin who was born on August 19, 1933, followed by Shirley May Mary (MacDonald) on August 20, 1935, and then Lorne Howard on September 3, 1940.

Ray is survived by his loving and dedicated wife of 56 years, Lorena (Ashdown). And by his children and their families: Kim Wiley and her husband Mike, children Colette Cole and Katie-Linn; Scott and his wife Michelle, their son Jacob, Scott’s children Jeremiah and Tiffanie, and Tiffanie’s son, Jax; Ross and his daughter Brittany, and Brittany’s sister Heather; Laurie-Ann Ducatt and her husband Allen, and their son Austin.

Ray’s parents and brothers passed before him. Lorne was just a toddler when he died of an illness in 1943 while Ray’s father was serving in the Canadian army during World War II. Jimmie died at the age of 49 after heart bypass surgery in May of 1983. He was married to Frances (Fran) and had two children, Wade and Terra. Ray’s father, Howard, passed away in July 1981 at the age of 85. Ray’s mother, Ragna, passed away in April 1999 at the age of 93. Shirley resides in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and is married to Jim MacDonald and they together had four children: Carol, Sharon, Danny, and Dale who preceded Ray in death.

Ray’s parents had a farm and some acreage in Provost, but suffered a devastating loss from years of drought. Ray’s mother moved the family to Calgary while Howard was serving in World War II. Ray was between the age of 9 and 12 when Howard was away and he wrote to his father regularly. Ray would give updates on how the family was doing; more specifically it was updates on how the he and his brother and sister were doing in school. He talked about birthdays and holidays, and gave updates on how his Mum’s new teeth were working out.

Ray attended St. Mary’s Catholic school and Western High School in Calgary. He left Western high school in 1950. Ray told many a story of being brandished on the knuckle with a ruler by the Nuns at St. Mary’s school. He did manage to keep decent grades all through school.

Donny Watson was a good friend of Ray’s in Calgary. They were both the same age and attended the same schools and worked several jobs together. When they were teenagers, before grade 9 they shared a paper route in Calgary. Donny and Ray shared a business venture of raising rabbits and selling the meat to the neighbors. The neighbors liked the fact that they did not have to spend their meat rations on the rabbits.

Donny and Ray worked very hard and they played very hard. But they also had a lot of fun. It may not have seemed like fun to everyone, but it was to them.

Ray eventually went to work at Trotter and Morton, a commercial plumbing and heating company. Shortly after Ray started, Donny came to work there also.

Ray met his wife, Loree around 1948 in Calgary. They had known each other from school. And they got to know each other more when they rode the same bus to high school in downtown Calgary. Ray had an after school job at the truck stop which was on McLeod Trail, the main highway between the US and Calgary. Loree worked after school in the restaurant adjacent to the truck stop. Ray worked fueling up the US truckers who traveled in multi-truck convoys as they headed to Alaska to build the Alaskan highway. Ray often worked until 1 or 2 AM fueling the trucks while the truckers ate at the restaurant where Loree worked.

In or about 1955 Ray’s family bought a large partially built house in Windsor Park. Ray completed the plumbing in the house and finished the lower part of the house, a daylight basement. Turning it into a two bedroom apartment in which his parents could then rent out.

After a year-long engagement Ray and Loree married on May 19, 1956 in Calgary. Their honeymoon took them on a long drive into the US. This was the start of a long adventure of traveling to many places and living in many locations.

Ray and Loree moved to Vancouver, British Columbia six months after their wedding. In September of 1957 they moved to Nanaimo, Vancouver Island where they had their first child, Kimberly Elaine on November 6, 1957. The family moved back to Calgary in 1958. They rented a duplex in east Calgary. It was while they lived there that Raymond Scott was born shortly after, on January 23, 1959. The family then moved to rental house closer to the Grandparents on 52nd Avenue. Ross Howard was born September 28, 1961. In November of 1961 the family purchased their first new home in Acadia which is located in south Calgary. The final addition to the family was then born, Laurie-Ann on November 27, 1962.

In 1963 the immigration paperwork was finally completed and Ray moved the family to Seattle, Washington. Ray left alone to Seattle in order to find work. He lived with Loree’s brother Fred and his wife BJ until Ray’s house in Acadia was sold. Ray found work in Seattle converting oil to natural gas furnaces working for Jack Gardner. Ray and Jack remained good friends for many years. Jack’s wife Neta and Loree became fast friends and the families shared many good times together.

Now back to the move to the US.

Once the house in Acadia was sold, Loree packed up the children, got on the train and caught up with Ray in Seattle. In October of 1963 the family moved into a rental house in North Seattle. Ray continued to work for Jack Gardner and then he found work as a plumber at Highline plumbing. Ray was a hard worker and he supplemented the family income by working part time at a local gas station. In 1964 the family moved to a house adjacent to Sea-Tac airport where they met close friends Don and Pat Schmitt and their three sons.

In 1966 the family moved to Federal Way, Washington where they remained for several years, until 1976, while the kids grew up.

In October 1976, Ray and Loree had a new home built on SE Lake Holm Road in Auburn. It was a beautiful home with a scenic view. As the kids grew up and moved out of the house, Ray and Loree moved to a few other places and settled into their home of 30 years in Bonnie Lake, Washington.

Ray and Loree loved to travel. Several driving trips were taken when the kids were small to visit Banff and Calgary. Ray and Loree took several trips on their own to exciting, historical, and exotic places such as Europe and Hawaii. They traveled by car or rail or plane in order to visit several of the states in the US and the Canadian provinces.

Ray is a retired member of the local 32 plumber union in Seattle. While in the union at Seattle, he worked for Highline Plumbing for several years, McKinstry plumbing and Mechanical for many more years, and at the end of his career he was a private consultant.

In 1998 Ray received the honorable ‘Plumber of the Year’ award from the McKinstry Company. And in 1984 he received ’25 Years of Continuous Service’ award from the union.

Ray spent so many years working in the Seattle area that he would get repeat business on the same building: Once on the new building and years later to remodel it a time or two. Ray worked on some very large projects such as the Seattle Kingdome and the Microsoft campus in Redmond.

After spending 30 years in the United States, Ray and Loree decided to obtain their US citizenship. In March of 1995, Ray and Loree were sworn in as US Citizens. Laurie-Ann was at their side and was sworn in at the same time.

Curling was an activity that Ray enjoyed. He did well at the game and played on a league. Bowling soon took over as the primary sport that he played. In 1964 Ray started to bowl at Olympic Lanes in Burien after Loree had started to bowl there with Carol Dameron and Pat Schmitt. Ray played on several leagues and many friendships were made while bowling. Merle Dameron was among those friends. The two played on several leagues between 1964 and 2009. Even after the bowling ended for Ray in 2009, Merle and Carol remain close friends.

Ray had battled Parkinson’s disease for nearly 20 years. In 2009 Ray was diagnosed with Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) and was moved into the Canterbury Nursing Home in Auburn, Washington. He stayed there for 3-1/2 years. His loving and devoted wife was there every day, never missing a day. She joined him each day for lunch and stayed with him until after dinner. Making sure he kept as active as possible, that he had every convenience available, and that he the best care possible.

In August of 2012, Ray was diagnosed with bladder cancer that had also spread to his lungs. The cancer did not cause Ray any pain until his last week of life. Ray and Loree were completely devoted to each other and they showed a dedication that is rarely seen in couples with the same circumstances that were presented to them. They both knew this was not the way they had planned their golden years but God provided a way to help them accept the challenges presented to them and the courage to face them head on.

Ray and Loree were able to celebrate 56 wedding anniversaries