Raymond Hare
November 1, 1923 - October 12, 2021
Obituary
Raymond Hare passed away peacefully in his home on October 12, 2021, just 3 weeks short of his 98th birthday. He is survived by his daughters Becky Hare and Diane Logan (John Logan) and his sister Justine Bell; granddaughters Anya Honkola (James Honkola), Jackie Wylie (Damian Wylie), Megan Suddaby, Annie Logan, Jessica Thiessen (Geoff Thiessen), and Tricia Recktenwald (Sam Recktenwald); and by 8 great grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his wife Genevieve, his daughter Stacia Rae, and his son-in-law Brock Suddaby.
Raymond Edward Hare was born in Livingston, Montana on November 1, 1923. He always spoke fondly of his childhood, growing up so close to the mountains and the Yellowstone River, and from an early age roamed the hills close to his home, and made furtive trips to the side channel of the Yellowstone for cooling dips. When the opportunity arose, he and his 3 younger sisters, all in elementary or high school, would be dropped off for a multi day camping trip up the Paradise Valley.
After high school, he took a course in drafting in Bozeman, but after a few months found it financially necessary to get a job. He headed to Youngstown, Ohio, where he roomed in a private home, and worked on the assembly line in a steel mill. During this time, with a bit of disposable income, he was able to pursue his interest in jazz music, and began to collect record albums and occasionally attended live music shows. His enjoyment of jazz continued throughout his life, and even in his 90’s enjoyed an outing to the Triple Door to listen to jazz.
Ray was drafted into the army during World War 2, and began training in radio communications, but as the war effort ramped up, he had to discontinue his studies and was sent to Europe as a foot soldier. Less than a year after being deployed in Europe, he was captured and spent several months as a Prisoner of War.
Upon returning stateside, Ray settled in Bozeman, where he attended Montana State University on his GI Bill benefits. He earned an undergraduate degree in engineering, then continued on to get his Masters in Physics. During this time, he reconnected with his future wife Genevieve, whose families were friends as they were growing up. Ray and Genevieve married on June 7, 1947 in Bozeman, and spent the next few summers when not in school (Ray) or teaching (Genevieve) working in Yellowstone Park and Cooke City.
Upon graduation, Ray had a job offer from Boeing, so they packed up and moved to Seattle. Ray and Genny quickly settled into life in the Pacific Northwest; they purchased a home, started a family, and made lifelong friends, with whom there were many camping trips and holidays celebrated.
It wasn’t long before the waters of Puget Sound called to him in an irresistible way, and thus began his lifelong passion for all things nautical – cruising, boat building, sailing, exploring. Initially, when the kids were young, summer cruising vacations were on board their cabin cruiser the Sunshine in the San Juans, Desolation Sound, and beyond, with good friends the Isaacsons. In keeping with his lifelong quest to learn, to build, to create, Ray decided to learn to sail, and thought the best way to do that was by building his own 30’ sailboat, the Shaman (in the driveway, no less!). Ray was forever the explorer, and found such peace and joy in gunkholing up and down the coast, along with his trusty First Mate, Genevieve, even circumnavigating Vancouver Island.
In retirement, they purchased a motorhome and took an extended trip to Alaska, a highlight being a side trip which took them north of the Arctic Circle. They spent several months each winter exploring the Southwest in their motorhome, growing to love the stark beauty of the desert and the rugged mountains, the archeological and cultural treasures, and of course the warmth of the sun. They continued traveling well into their 80’s with a trip to Montana in 2013.
Although Ray embraced the beauty and the opportunities of the Northwest, the landscape of his childhood continued to hold a special place in his heart. In his later years, he reminisced fondly of his childhood wandering freely in the foothills near town, and of the West Boulder Valley, with its beauty, peace, and great fishing and hiking. His sister Justine hosted many family gatherings in her cabins on the West Boulder; so many special memories were made there. Ray was able to return a couple of times in the past few years for short visits, which meant so much to him.
Ray had a broad range of interests, including a creative artistic streak, which led him to take up landscape painting. HIs workshop full of tools was a testament to his talent in woodworking, his ability to take on a myriad of home projects, and his skill in “inventing” tools for a specific use in boat building or maintenance.
Ray remained in his home in his final years, as was his wish. This was possible thanks to the loving care he received from his caregivers for 6 years, until his death. He will be dearly missed by those whose lives he touched, but he has left us with the gift of happy memories and the inspiration to live a full life!!
Diane’s Welcome and Memories at Ray’s Celebration of Life on March 5, 2022
Hello, Everyone!
On behalf of the family, I want to welcome you to this celebration of life, and to thank you for coming to honor our dad and grandfather. As the day grew close, I found myself really looking forward to it -not only to celebrate Dad’s life, but to celebrate this community of special friends. I thank each of you for your connection to dad, whether directly or indirectly, whether a friendship of many years, meeting him more recently, or as friends of Becky, me or his granddaughters who perhaps only knew him through our stories about him.
A special thank you to John, for embracing the Hare family. He had a special friendship with my dad, bonded by the realization of there being only 2 men surrounded by a minimum of 8 girls, usually several more. And also thank you for your support over these past few years of more demanding caregiving as the folks lived into their 90’s.
((John was always happy to make the trek to Burien and spend the evening visiting, drinking, and dining together, sometimes multiple times a week!))))
I would also like to thank his dedicated caregivers, to whom I am forever grateful. They were amazing – Dad was surrounded by attentive, loving and constant care, until the very end of his life. They went above and beyond, with outings, companionship, suggesting and implementing ways to improve his quality of life, and just sitting by his side and being present for Dad in his final days and hours. This was such a gift of love they gave Dad! I would like to acknowledge each caregiver by name:
Mulu Abdelkadir, April Carson, Kim Jones, Celia O’Heron, and Shasha Araya
(Please stand up)
Another caregiver I must acknowledge is Nurse Linda – a friend since first grade – who was invaluable with her professional knowledge, and was basically on call around the clock, 24/7. She came to the rescue on multiple occasions, including sitting in the ER for hours, etc, rushing to the house for a consult, etc
Now, a little about dear old Dad.
As most of you probably know, I adored my dad, and since he has passed away, I can sing his praises and pretend he was perfect!
Having 67 years of memories, I debated how to condense my tribute to a reasonable length. I came up with three words or phrases, which come up often in my memories of him.
First, kind and gentle. I have memories of him when I was just a little girl, sitting on his lap and him reading us books, or towel drying and brushing our hair. The one time I do remember him raising his voice was when he was teaching me to drive our International Travelall, an oversized SUV, with 4 on the column and no power steering. I can still hear him saying, as I tried to get it rolling,” give it some gas – give it-some gas- give it some gas (louder and faster each time)” But calmness usually prevailed, even as we learned to go up and down the driveway in this big rig.
Second, adventuresome & lover of the outdoors. Dad certainly passed on this spirit of adventure and love of the outdoors to his daughters and granddaughters. What a gift! As kids, we took for granted his adventuresome spirit – we thought everyone drove up narrow one-lane logging roads with sheer 500’ drops, then had to back down because there was nowhere to turn around. Or spent 3 weeks cruising the coast of British Columbia, “sneaking” through rapids well before slack, persevering in crossing the Straits of Georgia during inclement weather (the truth is, we could not turn around without capsizing), cruising up long and remote inlets with few if any anchorages and the potential of strong winds funneling through the inlet. All in a day’s fun! After he retired, he was able to realize his dream of circumnavigating Vancouver Island on Shaman with Genny, and I was lucky enough to be on board for the trip around the north end of the island and part way down the west coast – again, strong winds, lost the motor, depended on the sails, made it safely to anchorage.
Although he was an adventurer, his ultimate goal was not to conquer but to explore, to enjoy the journey, to enjoy the peace and beauty of the great outdoors. I have memories of him just sitting and taking it all in, content to just be anchored in a pretty little cove surrounded by soaring fir and cedar forests. And maybe just maybe sipping on a martini with his beloved First Mate Gen.
Third, possessing a quirky and dry sense of humor.
As any of you who knew him personally know, he often made funny and somewhat cynical little comments…. Which I thought were hilarious
So here is an example that stands out in my mind – When the 3 girls were infants and preschoolers, we moved into our present house, and John was traveling in Europe. Of course, in the usual Hare tradition, it was a do-it-yourself event, and with the help of Mom, Dad and Becky, we were able to accomplish it. I said to dad, “Oh, dad, I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you” and he said “I’ll get even. I’ll die” (heehee)
Well, 33 years later he did just that, and yes, he left a house with close to 60 years accumulation of stuff for us to deal with!
But, as luck would have it, it didn’t quite work out that I returned the favor by cleaning out his house…. which leads me to another thank you – to my sister Becky, who took on the incredibly huge task of cleaning out the house, readying it for sale, and eventually settling the estate. Thank you, Becky, for that and for our Team Hare Sisters work in elder care these past few years!
Honored to have had Ray and Gen in our lives.
Ray and Genevieve were so wonderful with several evenings with dinner and stories, the few years we lived in WA. Genevieve even taught me to make scottish shortbread. I’m sure they are together, now in God’s love.