Ray de Longpré, 93, of Grand Rapids, died December 19, 2022 at home surrounded by family after a brief illness. Ray was born February 3, 1929 in Sheldon, Michigan to Roy and Helen de Longpré, the second of four siblings.
Ray went to pharmacy school at Ferris State in Big Rapids where he met Nora Freiberg and they married in 1952. He graduated in 1954 and took his first job at Grand Rapids Osteopathic Hospital. Ray and Nora raised nine children and enjoyed bowling and golfing together. After the hospital, Ray opened his own pharmacy in Grand Rapids for a few years before taking a position at Abbott Laboratories in 1966. He worked for Abbott for 24 years, retiring in 1991 before Nora’s death in 1992. After his retirement, he doted on his many grandchildren when he wasn’t sailing, golfing or spending time at his cabin in northern Michigan. The cabin became his happy place the last several years as his health forced him to give up other activities. He finally gave up golf at 92, but he still went to the cabin for hunting season just a month before his death.
Ray was notoriously independent and was still living in the house where he raised his family until the very end. He even drove himself to the hospital while he was having a heart attack in 2000.
Ray was preceded in death by his wife Nora, his parents, and his sister Francel Jurewicz of Gaylord, MI. He is survived by his sister, Shirley Boyd of Ada, MI, his brother Roger of Pezenas, France, his nine children John, David, Paul, James, Mary Frederiksen, Ray John, Mark, Dale and Patrick. He also has about four dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren and a huge extended family, by blood and by bond.
Memorial services will be held on Monday, December 26 from 4pm to 7pm with a rosary at 7pm at Reyers North Valley Chapel in Grand Rapids. There will be a funeral mass at St. Jude’s Catholic Church at 11am on Tuesday, December 27 with a visitation one hour before and a luncheon following.
Memorial donations in Ray’s memory may be made to St Jude’s Catholic Church or the American Cancer Society.
