Raymond Lyle Darby

Raymond Darby was born February 16, 1923, in the same Nashua, Butler Co, Iowa farmhouse where his Mother Katie Sutter was born, Sept 21, 1894. Her parents, David & Mary Scheidecker Sutter settled on that farm after their 1892 marriage. They both came to Iowa, as children, from Baden Baden, Germany.

He grew up on the dairy farm in Nashua, Iowa, with three brothers (David was older, Ervin & LeRoy were younger) & one younger sister, Ellen Raymond’s Father, Clarence Darby, was born July 3, 1896, on a nearby dairy arm in Clarksville, Butler Co, Iowa, where his Father, Lucius Darby, & Grandfather Thomas Darby were both dairy farmers.

Raymond’s Great Grandparents, Thomas II & Frances Bement Darby came to Clarksville, IA in 1868, after the Civil War, from Cortland, New York. Their only son, Ray’s Grandfather, Lucius Darby was 8 months old. The Darby family had been in America a long time. Ancestors, Susannah Hooke & Edward Darby, were married in Boston, MA in 1659. There were Baptist ministers in Ray’s family, as well as dairy farmers. in the early 1800’s, in Homer, Cortland, NY, Rev. Alfred Bennett, (head of the 1st Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, which sponsored the first American Missionary to Burma, Adoniram Judson), was Thomas Darby Uncle. Rev. Nathan Peck was his Father-in-law, & Rev Chauncey Darby, his brother. All Pastored the Homer Baptist Church, in Homer, Cortland Co, NY; which still exists to this day.

Raymond loved farm life & although his brothers & sister graduated from high school, he quit at 8th grade to work for other farmers in the area. He was determined to be a dairy farmer like his Dad! He bought himself a guitar & harmonica, from a traveling salesman when he was about 12 years old, taught himself to play the guitar & played it daily, until neuropathy made it impossible in his 70’s. He loved music & Gospel & Country music & loved listening to the Gaither Gospel Hour in his last few years.

Raymond got a GED & enlisted in the US Navy “for the duration” of WWII. He went to Fargot, Idaho, boot camp for 7 weeks, then 6 months training in Norman, Oklahoma. Training at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, then at a gunnery base in Jacksonville, Florida were next. His last stop before going overseas was Coronado Island, San Diego, CA, May 1945 to June 30th, 1945. Base Kaneohe in Hawaii, completed his Navy training. (Older brother David & younger brother LeRoy were also in WWII military service).

Ray was sent to the front lines of the war in Japan, as a waist gunner & flight engineer for PBM-5 Mariner sea plane. He stopped at Johnston Island, then Kwajalein, then on to Saipan, the last stop in the Pacific Ocean before Japan. He arrived in Saipan August 5th, 1945. On August 6th, the US started bombing Japan, including the first atomic bomb (aka “little boy), on Hiroshima. Ray & his crew went on 2 bombing missions to the China Burma border area, where they dropped their bombs on Japanese outpost targets. His squadron contained approx. 10 planes. 2 days later, after the first atomic bomb was dropped, August 8th, 1945, Russia declared war on Japan & on August 9th, our 2nd atomic bomb was dropped, killing over 100,000 Japanese people. Japan finally surrendered to the US, August 14th, 1945.

After the war the crew did rescue missions. They did not find anyone stranded at sea, but other crews did. George Bush Sr., who later became President of the US, was rescued at sea by a submarine & taken aboard by a rescue missions.

The US bombed 69 Japanese cities, including Tokyo 3 times. Ray flew over Iwa Jima & his crew delivered passengers & mail around Saipan, Tokyo Bay, & Hiroshima. In Yokohama, a “total mess”, Ray saw the Japanese using caterpillar tractors to push debris & piles of bricks, for recovery. Japanese were clinging anywhere they could to the vehicle, so it would acquire traction.

Ray flew back to the US November, 1945, into San Diego. He remembers pulling through the clouds & witnessing Alcatraz, as they flew under the Golden Gate Bridge! He never saw his plane again after the war & there is just one PBM left today in the world, in a Phoenix, Arizona museum. It was cobbled together from many downed planes, some even pulled from underwater for parts, to make this example of the WWII PBM.

Once the war was over, Raymond returned home to Iowa. He studied agriculture under the GI Bill, & settled back into running a Dairy Farm himself, just outside of Lawler, Iowa.

Raymond was married to Mary Frances Whipple in Anoka, MN April 6, 1944 about a month before joining the Navy. She was also from an early American Baptist family, & her ancestor, Richard Warren, arrived in America, on the Mayflower in 1620. Baptist John Crandall, who migrated to Rhode Island, with Roger Williams, was another ancestor. (Ray & Lynda enjoyed several years of investigating family genealogy on-line, where they learned this information).

In Feb, 1956, after 9 years of dairy farming, he decided to move to California to work on the Santa Fe RR, where he retired after 33 years of work, as a conductor. (Mary Frances sisters had all moved to California & a Santa Fe Trainmaster brother-in-law offered him the RR work & he decided the money was worth the move! He had made a profit of only $700 in 1955, a year before Federal Farm Subsidies started helping the American Farmers).

Raymond & Mary Frances were married for almost 62 years when Mary Frances passed away in Loma Linda, CA January 2, 2006. They had 2 children that passed away in their first 2 weeks of life, in 1945 (Deanna Lee), and 1946 (Carolyn Rae). They have only one child, daughter Lynda Rae, born in 1948, living. They greatly enjoyed Lynda’s 3 sons. Matt (wife Suzanne) Dubois born 1968 is an Air Force Academy Graduate & Grandpa Ray & Grandma Mary Frances, enjoyed attending many Air Force football games where they watched Matt cheerlead. Tim (wife Debbie) Dubois, born 1972, is a Coast Guard Academy Graduate, & Shawn (wife Miranda) Dubois born 1974, was also in the Air Force. Ray & Mary Frances have 6 Great Granddaughters, Alexandria, (a physical therapist, age 23), Eryka, (an RN, age 21), Rayanna, (age 16), Jalyn (age 17), Megan (age 14) & Katya (age 15); and one Great Grandson Zachry Dubois (age 18), who will graduate from Zeeland High School in 2020.

Ray loved reading & kept up his love of learning new things, all his life. After retirement at age 65, Ray‘s Grandsons, Matt & Tim, talked about computers while visiting, & he didn’t understand the conversation very well. He went back to Redlands Community School & took the same computer class 3 times, so he could learn it well. On his 3rd time in the course, he was helping a young 1st time student, when the young man asked a question he didn’t know the answer to. He said “I don’t know that one – you’ll have to ask the instructor”. The man stepped back & opened his eyes & mouth wide & responded “What??? I thought you were the instructor”! He loved that!

He became computer “whiz”, checking stocks daily, keeping all his bank & investment records on computer spreadsheets, creating his own stationary & cards, emailing friends & relatives, & working on family genealogy on-line. He helped others at church set up their email & programs too, until he was over 90 years old.

After Mary Frances death in 2006, Raymond married again Oct 20, 2007, to Goldie Clark Swanson, at the Immanuel Baptist Chapel, in Highland, CA, near Redlands. They both had been California residents for over 50 years! They found they both had the same Gaither Gospel CD’s in their collections when they met, & enjoyed many good gospel concerts together. Goldie was a Canadian Citizen & Ray & Goldie visited Zeeland, Michigan each summer after their marriage, to visit for several months, at the home of Ray’s daughter, Lynda. They would enjoy the family for a couple weeks at the Glen Lake cottage, & then they would then travel on from Michigan, to New London, Ontario, where Goldie’s’ family (brothers & sisters) lived. They enjoyed several years of happy visiting & traveling together.

Ray & Goldie’s travels in their first 3 years together, included a paddle wheel boat trip down the Columbia River, & a cross country train trip from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Toronto, Ontario. They enjoyed several trips to Niagara Falls, NY, as well as trips to Virginia to visit one of Goldie’s brothers, who owned a goat farm there. They traveled to visit a niece & her husband (Leanna & Doug Day), near Phoenix, AZ, where they visited the Phoenix Flight Museum & saw the one example left, of the PBM plane Ray had flown during WWII. Goldie & Ray both loved the Lord & greatly enjoyed their fellowship at Immanuel Baptist Church in Highland, CA, as well as their travels, friends & families.

Health problems intervened in their happy married life & Ray had to have a 6 way cardiac bypass surgery in Sept 2010. Goldie had a major stroke in February, 2012, & they had home care, at their home in Redlands, CA for 7 years after that, before Goldie passed away March 14, 2019. Ray was 96 yrs. old when Goldie passed away, with many serious health concerns, & he moved to Michigan, May, 2019, & lived with Lynda & her husband, in Zeeland, MI, where Grandson Shawn & his wife Miranda helped care for him at home, until a heart attack February 10, 2020 caused him to be hospitalized, & then in nursing care, until his death at Vista Springs May 4, 2020.

While in Michigan, Ray attended Community Reform Church in Zeeland, MI, where his Lynda & husband Bernard, are members. He never really considered himself a Michigan resident, as he retained his home in Redlands, CA as a rental & is still actually a member of Immanuel Baptist Church, Highland, CA.