Raymond H. Mendez

Raymond H. Mendez (Ray/PawPaw), a beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather departed this life to be with our Heavenly Father on December 30, 2021 in Houston, Texas at the age of 90. He was born in 1931 in Houston, Texas. He is survived by his beloved wife of 71 years, Otilia C. Mendez (Tillie) and his three loving children, Sylvia Stange, Rose Marie Ledbetter and husband Matt, Raymond C. Mendez and wife Patricia. Grand children Ryan Ledbetter and wife Shea, Christopher Mendez and wife Sharon, Natalie and Nicole Stange. Great grandchildren, Levi and Olivia Mendez. Ray considered the following as his brothers and sisters, Oscar and Eloise Brambila, Albert and Imelda Carrillo, Lillian and Bob Ferguson. He leaves behind many nieces and nephews which he loved dearly.

Ray was a native Houstonian and worked hard at several jobs. Starting with Shipley donuts etc. he advanced to working for Creole Petroleum who entrusted him to work in Caracas, Venezuela in 1956 at the age of 25. There, he lived and worked for 3 and a half years. When he returned to Houston, he continued to work in the oil industry for Van Dyke Oil Company. In 1967, he and Tillie opened Geomicrofilm in the M & M Building. In 1978, he embarked in the seismic industry and created GDI, Inc. which later evolved into Microscan. Ray was a long time member of “Society of Exploration Geophysicists”.

‘Through the years, he became successful and was a greatly respected businessman in his industry. Ray was loved by everyone he met. He never really worked a day because he loved what he did.

Ray was a member of Juan Marcos Presbyterian church and loved unselfishly working with the community and helping those who were in need. Raising money for his church and always feeling good about it. Never looking for recognition. There are so many stories with happy endings. He was indeed a role model to us, instilling Christian values and showing us how to love one another.

Ray enjoyed spending his time with family, but loved his quiet time with the love of his life, just holding hands while watching tv. He never left her side, even spending hours waiting for her shopping and beauty appointments. What a priceless Love Story. He always had the weekends planned with fun activities. On Friday nights, we were always ready to go to the drive-in movies with sandwiches, popcorn and pickles. He would have to run after the rolls of toilet paper and paper towels when we opened the car doors. What a fun time we had.

He loved traveling and took many trips visiting many cities in the US, Mexico and Europe. Even after we were married he continued to invite us on trips with our spouses and kids. Ray loved his beach house and all of our family get togethers there. He would run from fishing rod to fishing rod changing our bait……he never got tired of helping us. I think he loved the look on our faces when we caught a fish. Small or large ones. He enjoyed trips to the casinos and spent hours pulling those slot machines. He loved sitting on the patio listening to music and reminiscing of the old days. He loved having big company parties and making sure everyone was having a good time. To this day, his clients are still talking about those parties. They were spectacular. PawPaw anxiously waited to have grandchildren and loved spending hours playing with them every chance he had.

We love you dad and you will be greatly missed every day, but the memories we made throughout the years will always remain in our hearts and will bring peace to us knowing you loved us. It has been a beautiful life. How lucky we are to have had you. Thank you for being a wonderful husband and father. We could not have asked for anything more.