Raymond Lee Balister

On Nov. 17, 1964, Raymond Lee Balister was born to Marianne and Albert. They brought their son home to big brothers David and Michael in Irwin, Pennsylvania. Ray was interested in building and taking apart things from a young age. He went to Hempfield High School. His interest were model aviation, theater, racquetball, and skiing.

At the Univ. of Pittsburgh, he majored in Electrical Engineering. As a DJ and photographer for the school radio, he caught the eye of his future wife Sabrina Angela Corder. His first job was in Virginia Beach in 1986 at System Management Applications. They married Aug 27, 1988 in Pittsburgh at Heinz Chapel.

In Newport News, he worked for Lockheed Martin on high velocity wind tunnel testing. While at Lockheed, Ray took advantage of contractor benefits with the local aero club at Langley Air Force Base and earned his private pilot license.

Moving to Rural Valley, Pa, he worked for Suprex in digital communication services. He built early robotic pharmaceutical delivery systems while employed at McKesson. Later, Ray, Senior Software Engineer for L3 Brashear designed space telescope optics and laser weaponry. In 2018, Ray began working in Exmouth, Australia on as needed basis. The US Air Force wanted the Space Surveillance Telescope L3 Brashear built transferred from New Mexico to Australia.

On 11-7-97, Ray’s 1st son, Julian was born, and 4 yrs later, his 2nd son, Adrian, came along on 11-27-01. Ray volunteered his pilot services to church ministries and served as Captain for Civil Air Patrol Squadron 714 in Indiana, PA for 6yrs. On a missionary trip to Zambia, his building skills were useful. He enjoyed riding motorcycles with Sabrina on back, hunting, scuba diving, and building a single engine airplane. But most of all, Ray preferred to spend quality time with his wife and sons.

In 2019, Ray’s Pittsburgh company merged with Defense Dept. contractor Harris to become L3 Harris. As a result, Ray’s worksite in Pittsburgh was set to close, opening an opportunity for him to move him and his family to Colorado after 26 yrs in PA. L3 Harris had won the contract to maintain SST, and Ray’s skills were much needed, since he was an original engineer for SST. So, in 2020, Ray moved his family to Colorado to begin a new adventure, which included buying some land in Colorado Springs, and building his dream house in the mountains.

Ray was able to work from his home, with his office looking over the spectacular Front Range of the Rockies. It was in this office that Ray passed away on Sept. 3, 2024 suddenly and unexpectedly from a blood clot to his lungs. He left too soon, and will be sorely missed.

A visitation for Ray will be held Tuesday, September 10th at Dove-Witt Family Mortuary from 4-7 pm; followed by a Celebration of Life and Farwell Service at Heart of Worship Ministries on Wednesday, September 11th at 11 am and burial at Evergreen Cemetery.