Raymond Watkins McDonald passed from this life on Monday, May 13, 2024. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ruth Harriet Watkins McDonald and Ray Henry Hampton McDonald; his wife of 47 years, Delores Lee Hayes McDonald; and his second wife, Lillian West McDonald. He is survived by his sister, Janis McDonald McCambridge; his daughters: Tracy McDonald Molnar and Elizabeth McDonald (Kevin) Weinrich; grandchildren: Tyler Craig, Ryan Craig, Chelsea Craig (Brandon) Carter, Julia Weinrich (Jeremy Hall), and Noah (Danielle) Weinrich; and great-grandchildren: Kenedi Hicks, Thomas Weinrich, Sam Carter, and Ava Carter.
Ray was known to all for his generosity, friendliness, and ready smile. He was an example of forgiving and forgetting, as well as refusing to let bitterness have any part in his life. He became a man of prayer and quiet faith that he lived through kindness for everyone he met, being as likely to lunch with a homeless friend as with a CEO.
Ray was born in Pueblo, Colorado, beginning his ever-optimistic life during the Great Depression under challenging circumstances. When his father lost his job on the railroad, the family lived on a farm growing their food. Then, his younger brother, Lawrence, died of polio in 1938. From age 12-18, Ray grew up in Denver, CO, where his mother served as an air raid warden during World War II. Winning a statewide scholarship, he went to the University of Colorado, where he earned degrees in both aeronautical engineering and business and belonged to the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, where he was also president.
After graduating, Ray went to Officer Candidate School and then served on a destroyer. If you know Ray, you have heard stories about his time during tours at the end of the Korean War and after it, 1953-1956. (If he never told you the whale, ask one of the family about it.)
Although he remained in the reserves for eleven years, Ray left the US Navy when he married Delores Lee Hayes in San Diego, California, on November 21, 1956. They started their family there, and he began his long career as an aeronautical engineer working for Convair. Ray and Delores (aka “Sydney”) then moved in 1963 with their two daughters, Tracy and Betsy, to St. Louis, MO, where he worked for McDonnell Douglass. Ray contributed significantly to projects that included the F-4 and F-15 fighters. Then, in the early 1970’s, he worked as the Chief Engineer of Technology on the groundbreaking F-18, which remains a key component of the US Navy.
Ray finished his career by leading a team of lawyers representing McDonnell Douglass in a suit with a competitor over rights to propriety technology. Ray’s team won the case, the largest ever brought before Congress by that time in the 1980s.
When Ray’s family had increased to five grandchildren: (Tyler Craig, Ryan Craig, Chelsea Carter, Julia Weinrich, and Noah Weinrich), he and Delores moved from their longtime home in Chesterfield, MO, to Athens, GA. He cared for Delores with patience and compassion during her long decline with early onset dementia, trusting God from one day to the next until she passed away on June 17, 2004.
Though the loss was devastating, Ray loved his life, which included travel, keeping up with grandchildren, playing golf several days a week, going out to lunch daily, and attending and fellowshipping with friends at the University Church in Athens. Determined to live his best life, he married Lillian Foster in August 2005 and enjoyed new adventures with her and this expanded family. Sadly, she passed away in February 2009.
Ray worked at Athens Regional/Piedmont Hospital as a volunteer and played lots and lots of golf at Jennings Mill Country Club. Though he missed his St. Louis family, he fully engaged with Athens-based grandchildren and extended family. In 2017, daughter Tracy Molnar moved from St. Peters, MO, and became Ray’s “roommate” in his St. Ives home, helping him maintain routines, attend church, do the rounds of restaurants, and take part in events. More than anything else, Ray loved the family and friends he prayed for daily.
On April 29, 2024, Ray suffered a stroke that led to a quick decline, ending with his passing into glory on May 13, 2024. His kindness and joy will ever shape the lives of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We are so grateful for him.
Viewing and visitation will be on Sunday, May 19, from 4:00-6:00 p.m., at Bernstein Funeral Home, Athens, GA. A service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Monday, May 20, at Bernstein Funeral Home, with interment at Oconee Hill Cemetery.
Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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