Raymond U. Burgess, Jr.

A Funeral Mass will be held for Lt. Colonel Raymond U. Burgess, Jr, USAF, Retired at 2:00 p.m. on Friday May 1, 2015 at St. Jude Catholic Church. Interment will follow at Hill Crest Memorial Park. The family will be receiving friends for visitation at 1:00 p.m. prior to service at St. Jude.

One of the last great men of his generation, Ray passed away early on the morning of April 23, 2015. Ray was born June 1, 1920 in Washington D.C, and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. He lived very close to a Country Club, so he became a golf caddie as a teenager which began his lifelong love of golf—playing well into his mid-80's.

From the first time his Dad took him up in an old biplane in the early 1930's, Ray was hooked on flying. He grew up to fly airplanes in the Army Air Corps, later to become the Air Force, in World War II. He was a B-17 Bomber pilot assigned a special mission on the first B-17 Ferret crew for duty in 1943-44 in North Africa and, later, Italy. Ray flew 50 missions in these specially equipped B-17s, intended to detect, analyze and jam enemy radar stations.

After the war, he met his future wife, Sylvia, at a USO Dance in Alexandria, LA. They married in 1945 and just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. He got called up from the Reserves during the Korean War and afterwards made a career in the Air Force as a pilot assigned to Strategic Air Command (SAC) units from his recall until retiring in 1969. Ray flew many types of aircraft in his SAC career including the B-29, KB-29, KC-97, B-47 and B-52. He was stationed at Barksdale AFB from 1954-1964 and lived in Bossier City during that time. In 1969, he retired back to Bossier City permanently.

During his years of retirement, Ray was an active volunteer at local schools and in little league (at Barksdale) while his last son, Brian, was still in the public schools. He later became an active (Lifetime) member of the Bossier City Lion's Club and served the veteran community in many ways including as a member of the Daedalians and as past chairman of the Retired Military Council at Barksdale. He was a faithful member of St. Jude Catholic Church with his wife Sylvia and son Brian.

He was preceded in death by his son Bruce W. Burgess; parents, Raymond and Marietta Burgess; and his sister, Shirley Wells. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Sylvia; daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Albert Wingate, son and daughter-in-law, Raymond and Shefa Burgess, son Brian Burgess and Molly C. Burgess (Bruce’s surviving spouse). He is also survived by his loving grandchildren Erik Wingate, Aaron Burgess, Christine Jensen, Matthew Burgess, Rachel Douglas, Lyra Graf, Kristen Hirst and 7 great-grandchildren.

The family would like to thank Dr. Allen Cox and the staff at Louisiana Family Practice and also the wonderful team at Southern Care Hospice, especially Lisa and Jackie along with Twanna who took such wonderful care of Ray these last several months.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the St. Jude Catholic Church Building Fund, 4700 Palmetto Road, Benton, LA, 71006.