Richard was born on November 17th, 1929 to Ansel and Mildred in Brookings, South Dakota. They moved to California when he was a young child. Richard graduated from University High School, in West Los Angeles in 1948. He held the track record for many years, and rode his horse, Kick. He then went on to study Dairy Husbandry at Pierce Junior College and then Fresno State.
During college, in November of 1950 he enlisted into the Air Force to go to the Korean War to defend our country for 4 years. Before he left he married the love of his life Dolores on February 24th, 1951 and were married for 72 years. Douglas was born in 1953 in London where they were stationed during the war.
Richard then went back to college and graduated with a BA in Business Administration in 1955. He started his own Printing Business kickstarting a 30 year career in printing with his wife and business partner, Dolores. Deborah joined them as their second child in Los Angeles in 1956.
Richard and Dolores picked up the passion of flying in 1968 and flew their plane, “5-2 Poppa” until 1983. Their favorite places to visit were Mexico, Canada, Catalina and anywhere with a good cheeseburger.
While he enjoyed owning his own printing business, he was always a farmer at heart, and retired in April of 1980 in Fresno California with his dream of becoming a farmer. He spent his time golfing and flying, going to his grandsons’ games every weekend.
He loved his family, the Dodgers, and living his life to fullest.
Richard was predeceased by Dolores, He is survived by his wife Dolores his son Doug Wray (Katie), his daughter Deborah Wray Smith(Walt), grandson Jeffery Wray, grandson Kristopher Wray (Nancy), granddaughter Kaelyn Smith (Eric), granddaughter Brittany Barto (Carter) and great grandchildren Sayde Barto, Kaia Barto, Koral Wray, Adisun Barto, Remi Wray, Zander Barto and Wyatt Smith.
A Graveside Service for Richard will be held Wednesday, March 1, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. at Clovis Cemetery, 305 North Villa Avenue, Clovis, California 93612
