Haslett, Michigan
Ray was born June 29, 1932, in West Branch, Michigan, the son of Clare F. and Catherine M. (Craft) Valley, and passed away very early on March 11, 2013, at the age of 80.
Ray attended the West Branch Public Schools and graduated in 1950. He was in the U.S. Army from early 1952 to late 1953 and served with the Army Intelligence Corps in Japan. He was assigned to Korea in November 1952 where he spent many months on the front lines, including one of the big battles for Port Chop Hill. He was honorably discharged in the fall of 1953.
After returning from the service, he married Emma Jean Ouderkirk in 1954 and that fall they settled into married housing at Michigan State University where he pursued his higher education. On April 9, 1956, he enlisted in the Michigan State Police (MSP) and after his graduation from training was assigned to the Clinton Post, Clinton, Michigan. His tour of duty with the MSP included promotions and transfers to posts in Centerline; East Lansing (Organized Crime Unit); Alpena; Community Relations/Juvenile Section, Headquarters; and then closing his MSP career on April 9, 1978, as a Lieutenant and assistant commander of the Training Division. Over the years he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degree at MSU.
Ray began a second law enforcement career in 1978 as a special investigator in Attorney General Frank Kelly’s Medicaid Fraud Unit and retired from that position early in 1995.
Through the years, he has been actively involved in the Community of Christ – Rose Lake Congregation. He is an ordained minister (Seventy-which is a missionary) and has served as pastor and co-pastor of the congregation. He has always placed a great emphasis on the care and protection-physically or spiritually-of the people he has been called to serve.
Ray was a loving father to Dr. Martin R. Valley and his wife Dawn; and grandfather to granddaughters Morgan, Lane, and Jordan. He was preceded in death by his parents. Ray is survived by his wife, son (Dawn), and granddaughters and his brother Dick, brother-in-law John (Patricia) Ouderkirk; aunts: Nellie Globke and Frances Valley; nieces, nephews, cousins, and a host of friends (some of his fellow officers and friends were “Almost brothers and sisters” in the joys and friendships they shared).
His funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, March 15, at the Community of Christ-Capital Area Congregation, 1514 West Miller Road, Lansing, Dr. Martin R. Valley officiating. Interment will be at Brookside Cemetery, West Branch, Michigan. The family will receive friends on Thursday from 3-5 and 6-8 p.m. at Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes, 1730 E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Ray’s memory to the Community of Christ-Rose Lake Congregation, 14980 Upton Rd., East Lansing, MI 48823 or Outreach International, 129 W. Lexington, PO Box 210, Independence, MO 64050. On line condolences may be made at www.greastlansing.com
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