Raymond R. Harvey - 1947 - 2019

Raymond Riley Harvey passed away August 19, 2019, at Willamette Valley Medical Center in McMinnville, Oregon, after a hard fought battle with Stage IV cancer. His wife of 34 years was by his side. He was 72 years old, born in 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana, to parents Raymond Rudolph Harvey and Barbara Jean Tucker. He was most proud of being a Marine, serving three tours of duty in Vietnam during the war, then staying in the service and teaching electronics for 10 years. After the Marines, he worked at the airport in Indianapolis and then at RCA before relocating to California, where his brother Onan Harvey lived. There, he started a business repairing business machines and then computers, as the market evolved and computers took the place of word processors.

In April 1985, he met Carolyn Suzukawa at a church they both attended in Palo Alto, and married her on July 21 of that year in the Japanese Garden in San Mateo, California. In 1992, after visiting Oregon on many occasions, they decided to relocate and bought a farm in Sheridan, Oregon, to realize a dream that had sustained him through the hard times during his tours of service in Vietnam. They planned to be self-sufficient and sustainable; to that end, they bought and were gifted sheep for wool to spin for clothing and blankets and for food. They bought used equipment and farm machinery they could afford, and Ray learned to repair and operate them to cut their own hay for winter feed.

During this time, Ray started work for WMS Gaming, known as Williams Gaming at the time, servicing and installing video poker machines at the main building and various Oregon Lottery locations. As the industry grew and Tribal casinos started using his company’s gaming machines, his territory grew to include Washington, Idaho and California, in addition to Oregon, with four other techs working under his direction. He retired in 2016 and had more time to work on his passions of turning wood bowls on the lathe and creating segmented bowls he finished on the lathe.

Raymond is survived by his wife, Carolyn; his mother, Barbara; his sister, Dorothy; and step-siblings, Onan, Don, Carol and Josie. He was preceded in death by his father, Raymond Rudolph.

On Saturday, September 21, 2019, at 11:00 a.m., there will be an Honor Guard Ceremony at the Sheridan Veterans' Memorial on Main Street, with a Celebration of Life to follow at the Sheridan United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 234 N. Bridge St. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the charity or cause of your choice. To leave online condolences, please visit www.macyandson.com.