Raymond A. Lair

Raymond A. Lair, Sr., husband and best friend of the late Beulah J. Lair, passed away on March 30, 2016. Ray was survived by his children, Rae L. Sandler, LaVerne Lair Sochats (Kenneth) and Raymond A. Lair (Virginia Sue) and his step son Robert Brady (Doris). He is also survived by his grandchildren, Amy Osterwise, Charles Lair and Ashley Lair Lloyd and his step grandchildren, Timothy Brady and Tara Brady. He was blessed with two great grandchildren and another soon to be born. He has numerous great step children. Ray was a truly great dad and grandad and very much loved. He served his country proudly in WWII and retired from the Air Force Reserves after approximately 25 years of service with the rank of Major. Ray enjoyed life to the fullest and truly enjoyed his family. A man of steel (having been a roller for J& L Steel and then Manager of the Rolling Mill), he could be tough when he had to be, but was very sentimental when it came to his family and a soft touch. Ray was the best father and a great friend. He was a fighter to the end. He missed our mother a lot and now we know they are together - young and carefree together. They had a great life together and always had the best time. My dad was always the life of the party - always ready with a joke. My brother and I were going through his file cabinet and found a file marked "jokes". Cracked us up. Reminded me of Joan Rivers with her joke cabinet. He saved every letter and card written to him by his kids and grand kids. He was very sentimental that way. He has stuff from when we were in grade school. He was the very best dad. We are missing him like you wouldn't believe. But we know he is with our mom and that they are both free of pain and happy. We will mourn him, but more importantly we will remember the man and dad and grandad he was. There are so many great memories, we will spend the rest of our days celebrating his life and making him proud of the people we became because of him and our mother. We will be forever proud and grateful to say he was our dad and our grandad.